State of Disrepair
by Lord Jerry
Summary: Living a life of constant struggle, Curtis Wayne Bryant finds a stable job at Freddy's. But with a crime-ridden past as well as an uncertain future, he can only look toward his friends for support. One being a long time friend with a history of crime, and one who is a lonely fox stuck as an animatronic children's entertainer.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: Howdy everyone. For this story, I wanted to warn some people of its content. After a bit of inspiration from 'American History X' I wanted to make a story about characters that lived rough lives, and because of it weren't always the best people. The story will contain gang violence, racism,**_ ** _Nazism, and the usual slew of murder that comes with FNAF stories. With that out of the way, you now know what to expect._**

* * *

It was a cold night in the slums of the city of Cawthon. My hoodie did its best to keep me warm as I stood at the railing of my apartment's balcony. It had only been a week since That Night. I instinctively grazed my fingers over the pistol I had tucked into my waistband as I remembered the events. I didn't regret any of it. Not at this point in time. And neither did anyone else. Everyone knew the rules of the street, and they broke 'em.

My name is Curtis Wayne Bryant. My whole life, I've had it pretty rough. Not only did I live in what was essentially SlumVille, but I was one of the poor folks. Never knew my mother, and Dad died by the hand of some fuckin' thug. I was on my own before I finished high school. Even after I finished, I was still only seventeen. Yeah, I'm young, but I sure as hell ain't some kid. To make money, I worked occasionally at my buddy Donovan's auto-shop.

Looking down over the railing, I saw my best friend, and my most unlikely friend, Jett McAllister. To give you an idea on why our friendship is unlikely, I was half Jewish on my mother's side apparently. Jett's family, however, were the resident Neo-Nazis. We had been friends all throughout school, so when he found out I was half Jewish, he said my father's white genes cancelled out the Jewish ones, and that's why I was an okay friend to have. Thanks Jett, you dick.

After waving to him, I headed down to meet him. Now, aside from the Jewish thing, Jett was quite different from me. He had a blonde buzz-cut with bright blue eyes. I had long, curly black hair and hazel eyes as well as a small amount of facial hair. One thing we had in common was our height, the both of us being six-foot one exactly.

"'Sup, man." Jett said, high-fiving me.

"'Sup. How are you not cold, dude?"

Jett was wearing a pair of suspenders with a plain white tank top, yet he looked like he was less cold than I was.

"I'm not a little bitch. _That's_ how." he answered in the most Jett way possible.

"Whatever."

We walked down the street to hang out near the nicer part of the city, considering you were less likely to be shot there. It was full of pretentious douchebags though. They usually didn't like when the poor people came into their neighborhood, but they were too scared to fight us most of the time. Being practically raised by the streets made people tough. And because of it, it was hard to find someone who could challenge me or my friends. I was a better fighter than Jett, but Jett was much more aggressive than ol' Curtis here. If we were in a fight, it was usually because he started it. Thanks Jett, you dick.

As we walked, we passed by that new kid's birthday place Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria. It had been open for just a single day, so they were asking for some employees. Jett once suggested working there, but I wasn't about to work for a place where you're forced to be nice to soccer-moms and snot nosed brats. However, I wasn't opposed to checking the place out. After all, it had an arcade in it. Plus, I knew a guy who worked there who could get us free drinks.

But that would wait until tomorrow. Right now, I had friends that were waiting on us. We arrived at the park in the town, and found where our friends were. The same ones that were there during That Night. First, there was Dexter. He was a kinda lanky guy, but he was damn good at kicking people's asses. He was pretty rambunctious too. Next was the short dude of the group, Larry, who stood at five-foot six. He was chill. That's about the extent of his personality. Of course, we had the token female of the group, Diane. She was pretty quiet, and could be a cunt sometimes, but she was good to her friends. She was actually the rich one of the group, being upper middle-class.

"Yo, Curt! How's it hangin'?" Dexter asked.

"I'm alright I guess. Just thinkin' about life." I said jokingly.

"Don't tell me that corny bullshit, man. I'm bein' for real."

"All right, all right. I'm okay. That's about it."

We just talked for the next few hours, Dexter going through a pack of those cancer-sticks. It was pretty uneventful, but it was what we did. When you didn't make a lot of money, hanging out and talking was about the extent of what we could legally do. And we were trying to lay somewhat low at the moment. Looking at my watch, I saw that it was about midnight, so I said my goodbyes to my friends, followed by Jett.

We made it to our block and went our separate ways from there. I was ready to get some rest if I could before I checked out that Freddy's place. I had invited my other friends, but they would be busy working, except for Jett, who would be joining me. At least I wouldn't be alone. I just hoped he covered up the swastika tattoo on his chest. Yeah, he had one of those. And yes, he liked to show it off and get us kicked out of places.

 _'Thanks Jett, you dick.'_ I thought to myself with a laugh before entering my apartment and falling asleep in my warm bed.

* * *

I woke up at about 5:30 and got ready for the day. I didn't need any money right now, considering bills were payed and I still had plenty extra, so I didn't need to go to Donovan's. After cleaning myself up a bit, I put on my hoodie and headed out the door to be greeted by Jett, who wore a shirt that hid his tattoo.

"You're up early, Jett." I stated.

"'Cuz you seemed so excited yesterday to meet the new animal robots." he said, mocking me.

"Whatever. I know that you just wanted to get food that's better than your mom's casserole, whatever the hell that is."

"Yeah, you're right. Aight, let's roll."

It didn't take long for us to reach the restaurant/arcade place, and we weren't shot while walking past our block. So that was good. Seeing the building, I couldn't help but feel like it was out of place. It was a clean, bright, cheerful place right on the edge of the slums, making it stick out.

There weren't really that many people there, so I assumed that because it was the morning of a work day, it probably would stay pretty clear. Good. Less little brats rubbing grease on everything. I went to open the door, and was greeted by the sounds of a few arcade machines, as well as an animatronic band up on stage that followed us with their eyes as we walked. Now, that would be neat if it wasn't so fucking creepy.

"Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria! I hope you have a nice stay with the new and improved Toy Fazbear crew!" a portly man in a suit said as we entered.

"Uh... Yeah, cool, thanks. Who might you be?" I asked. I knew he was probably the owner, but I had to be sure.

He gave a hearty laugh as he stuck his hand out to shake, which I did.

"A nice, firm handshake! I like you already, kid! But I'm the owner of this establishment. You can call me Mr. Fazbear."

Called it.

"Alright then, 'Mr. Fazbear', I'll try to stay outta trouble for ya."

"Please do. And be sure to have fun! Tell your friends!"

No thanks. After having that little awkward talk, I went to the counter where you trade money for arcade tokens and got twenty bucks worth for myself. I wasn't 'bout to buy Jett some arcade tokens. He's a grown-ass man who can buy his own. I headed to one of the arcade games that was one of those shooters with the gun controller and was ready to blast some in-game baddies with Jett when the band stopped playing.

I thought nothing of it until I heard a high-pitched male voice behind me.

"Hey there pals! How are you this fine morning?"

I turned around to ask what dildo was bothering me when my heart nearly stopped.

It was one of those fuckin' _robots._ The blue rabbit to be precise. It was wearing some kind of dress slacks and an ugly red bow tie that was supposed to make them look friendly or something.

"Uhhh... Hey?..." Jett said, also looking like he was going to dart any second.

"What are your names? I'm Bonnie the Bunny! The band's guitarist." it said. I wasn't sure if it was a boy or not yet.

I didn't want to answer it. It's green eyes were just so intense. Fortunately, Jett answered for me.

"I'm Bob and that's Tina. Alright, you can go do bunny stuff now." Jett joked, expecting pre-programmed responses.

"Cool names!"

Yep, just as we suspected-

"Tina is a pretty unusual name for a boy. Not that that's a bad thing!" it said with a big smile.

Holy _shit._ It could _talk._ For _real._

Jett and I looked at each other, giving the same look that said _'Are you seeing this shit?_ _'_

"So, what are you two doing? Playin' games? I love games!"

"I'll bet you do..." I said, creeped the hell out.

"Yep! How about we play a game _together_?"

Oh hell the fuck no. This was some serial killer soundin' shit. Or at least that's how _I_ saw it in my nervous state.

"What kinda game?"

Jett... I fucking swear to _God..._

"How about hide and seek? Or tag? Those are my favorites!"

"Well, I just wanted to play this arcade game, so..." I said, trying to give a hint that I wanted it gone.

"Can I play with you then?"

"Sorry, we were gonna play it... together."

"Then I'll just watch."

Mother _fucker._

"Bonnie, leave those poor fellas alone! Can't you see you're bothering them?" a much deeper voice said.

I turned around to see the brown bear robot-thing standing with his hands/paws/what-the-fuck-ever on his hips. It was obviously male in design, and was a bit portly. Kinda like 'Mr. FazFuck' or whatever.

"But Freddy! I haven't had the chance to make new friends yet! Not many people came yesterday and-"

"No buts Bonnie. See? There's another group coming through the doors. I'm sure they'd be glad if you gave them a big ol' Fazbear welcome!" the bear Freddy said, watching as the rabbit looked back at us, then smiled and headed to greet the family.

The bear smiled as he watched Bonnie excitedly rush toward the newcomers. Then, he turned to us and spoke, once again creeping us out.

"Sorry about Bonnie there. He's been so excited to finally meet some new friends." Freddy said.

So it seemed that the rabbit was a boy. What a twink.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. Well, thanks for having us. Good to see you, man." Jett said to the bear robot.

"The pleasure is mine. I overheard that your names were Bob and Tina? Now why'd you have to lie to Bonnie like that?" the bear half-demanded.

"I thought it would be funny to call Curtis here a girl's name. That's all." Jett answered, a little bit more nervous.

"Well alright then. Have a Faztastic day!" the bear said cheerfully before heading off to greet the steadily increasing flow of visitors.

I turned to Jett and mouthed what we were both thinking.

'What the _fuck_?'

We stood around for a moment before we just decided to play the game that we were distracted from. We already had our shitload of tokens, so we might as well use them. After a while of adding the first high scores on the new arcade cabinets, being immature, we put our high score names as stuff like 'DIK', 'FUK', and 'FAG'. To us, it was comedy gold as long as nobody saw it was us, though we doubted many of the employees cared, considering they already looked completely dead inside.

After nearly an hour on games, we still had too many tokens to just waste. I guess we were just good at video games. Especially shooters. We had played enough to where we got bored, so we decided to see what else there was here. We passed by some empty party rooms and a weird room with a giant present in it with shitty toys surrounding it on shelves. If I were still a kid, I would've shoplifted the _fuck_ out of those crummy toys, but now they didn't interest me. Maybe I could sell those little plush things though?

We just moved past the room until we came across a room that had a sign that read _'Kid's cove!'_ in eye melting colors. Hearing someone humming a catchy tune, we went inside to check it out, looking around the room until our eyes settled on a fox animatronic with its back to us rifling through a box full of pirate-themed toys. The pirate theme matched its outfit, which consisted of a captain's hat and coat.

We were ready to dart and not get caught up with another creepy animatronic when Jett just _had_ to sneeze. Its ears perked up and it turned around, meeting our eyes with its entrancing yellow ones. It was obviously female, considering its voluptuousness.

"Welcome to Kid's Cove! I'm Toy Foxy, captain of this here cove! Who would ye be?" her feminine voice asked with a slight pirate accent.

"Hey. I'm Bob and this here's-"

"Ignore him. I'm Curtis. He's Jett. Nice to meet ya." I said, trying to make it snappy.

"Lovely! I haven't had any older kids come to visit me. Would you like to play with me? I can tell you my stories, or we can color!" 'Foxy' said enthusiastically. A cruel idea entered my mind.

"Actually, Jett here came to color with you. It's his second favorite thing to do besides eating crayons." I said, Jett looking furious.

"I don't... I don't eat crayons." Jett began before adopting a smile of his own. "But I did come here to color... with my friend Curtis of course."

Fuck you _and_ your mother Jett.

"Fantastic! Would you like a snack as well? I have plenty. After all, a pirate's gotta have her booty!"

Hehe... Booty.

"Sure. How much will that be?" I asked, not wanting to pay ten bucks for a shitty snack.

"Why, I wouldn't charge my new friends! A pirate loves her treasure, but she loves her crew more!"she said as she opened up a child-proofed chest full of things like cheese crackers and granola bars.

She grabbed a handful of snacks as well as crayons and paper as she sat down on the floor, motioning for us to join her as she opened a granola bar and took a bite-

Hold up. The robot just took a bite out of a fucking granola bar. They were intelligent _and_ could eat? What _were_ these things? Who made them? But those questions would have to wait as the fox robot looked to us expectantly as she held out the box of crayons. I sighed as I picked out the red crayon, 'cuz red is cool. It was a strange experience to participate in such a childish activity with an anthropomorphic fox robot pirate woman. Yeah, that's a weird sentence. I looked to see Jett pick out the orange crayon and Foxy pick the pink one.

I decided there was no harm in doodling with the robot, so I got to showing off my shitty art skills. I drew a cartoon version of me riding on a shark in the ocean. It was messy, but I was convinced that it was badass. It looked like Jett drew himself as a stick-figure king on a castle. Not in it. _On_ it. We were pretty proud of our masterpieces, but then we saw Foxy's.

It was a cartoon version of herself on a pirate ship, holding hands with cartoon Jett and Curtis, who were dressed in pirate clothes. Cartoon me looked pretty good with an eye patch. Someone knock on wood for me.

"Wow! You guys are quite the artists! Do ya mind if I keep the drawings?" she asked, clearly excited by the prospect.

"I guess. But can I have _your_ drawing?" I asked. How cool would it be to have a robot's art?

"Really? Ye like it? That's so sweet!"

"You guys are just the cutest." Jett said with a smirk. Fuck you, Jett.

"Oh, why thank you." Foxy said, looking bashful.

Suddenly, Foxy got really close to me faster than I was okay with, wrapped her arms around me, and looked to Jett.

"We are quite a cute pair, aren't we?" Foxy said as she squeezed me with her arms. I was ready to yell 'RAPE!' until she spoke again.

"Since we make such a great pair already, ye can be my first mate!"

Well that was somethin'. But what did such a title include? I wasn't a fan of commitment, so I didn't want to volunteer for some position that would eat up my time.

"What does that mean? As in, what does your first mate do?" I asked.

"You mate with her first, obviously."

Jett, I am going to cut your fucking balls off.

Foxy suddenly became _very_ flustered. She started stuttering, not sure what to say. The idea of a robot being embarrassed was incredibly strange to me, but Jett seemed to get a kick out of it. What a bastard. Foxy looked at me, then to Jett, then to me again.

"I-I... It doesn't mean... I wouldn't do such a thing with ye! Not that there's anything wrong with ya... I-I mean it..."

"It's fine. I know he was joking. Don't worry about it." I said, much to Foxy's relief. She shot a faux-angry look at Jett before properly answering me.

"Well, me first mate is me second-in-command, and accompanies me on my many adventures! What d'ya say, bucko?"

Jett nodded his head toward me, so I thought, 'Fuck it. Why not?'.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be your first mate, I guess."

Foxy lit up at this. Her smile was wide, showing off her menacing sharp teeth. She squeezed me in the hug even tighter, and I could feel her soft fur on my face. She gave off a surprising amount of warmth. Looking past her and down to her tail, I could see the fluffy appendage wagging rapidly. Looks like I made a robot girl's day.

"Great! Adventure awaits us, first mate Curtis! As my first mate, you get to help your captain out. I'll go get Mr. Fazbear now!" she said, running out the door before I could stop her.

"What the _fuck,_ Jett?"

"Hey, don't blame me. I just wanted to know what she meant by that. But now you're stuck as her little assistant." Jett said, making an 'L' with his fingers on his forehead.

I went straight up to him and decked him in the gut before punching him in the cheek. In retaliation, he wrapped his arms around my waist and threw me to the ground. As he held me down, I pounded his side with my fist, wrapping my legs around his so he couldn't escape. We wrestled on the floor like animals for a few minutes before we heard loud footsteps and the jovial voice of 'Mr. Fazbear', which was definitely not his real name.

Jett and I got up immediately, not wanting to be caught fighting and subsequently kicked out. Foxy and Mr. Fazbear turned the corner to greet us, Mr. Fazbear holding papers in his hand as well as what looked like a name tag and hat.

"I'm so glad that we have someone to assist Foxy now! As you know, we're short staffed and... what happened to _you_?" he asked a bruised and slightly bloodied Jett. Jett wiped his nose free of blood before answering.

"I tripped and fell."

Nice save, Jett. Not. But the rotund fellow bought it I guess because he shrugged and proceeded to hand me the papers. I looked through them to see it was for employment. Something about safety, code of conduct, yadda yadda, $15 an hour, rules of-

Fifteen dollars an hour!? Holy Shit! Now, it may not be a lot for some of the more well off folks, but for a poor bastard like me, that was awesome for a job where I'd have to apparently do almost jack-squat. The man handed me a pen that I immediately took to sign my name on the papers. He handed me the hat with the name tag as well as a marker to write my name.

"Welcome to the Fazbear Family! We don't have another uniform right now, so we'll have to get you one as well as a more permanent name tag. Since the day hasn't exactly started, considering it's only 7:30, you can get started either tomorrow or today. If you start today, you will be paid for the hour you didn't even spend working as well as for the rest of the day!"

I looked at Jett, then to my baggy of tokens. Fuck it. I need as much money as I can get. I handed Jett my tokens before turning to the portly man who would be my new boss as I stuck my hand out for him to shake.

"I'll get started as soon as possible. What am I supposed to do, though?"

"Just do what Foxy says. Oh and..." he began as he leaned closer and whispered. "Try to keep her from getting damaged by the children. Kids these days just can't keep their hands to themselves."

I nodded as the man finally finished shaking my hand and turned to leave.

"So I guess I'll just go and use these things. See you around, bro." Jett said as he went to blast the tokens on arcade games. He gave me a parting fistbump and left, once again wiping his nose clear of blood. Me and Jett fought a lot, but we didn't really mean anything by it. It was just fun to do. But it was more fun to fight the losers that would sometimes end up on our block. I don't even know how some of those geeks were able to reach our block in the first place.

I turned to the only other person in the room, which was the fox robot. She came up to me and gave me another weird hug.

"I'm so glad to have ye as my first mate! I can't wait to have you help tell stories to the little kiddos!" Foxy said as she went to hang up our masterpieces from earlier.

We sat in silence for a while, any people coming in becoming more interested in the main band. It would have been fine, had a creepy overly-realistic robot sitting by me. She didn't say much to me, but would smile at me before looking away any time our eyes would meet. I decided that I might as well break the silence before the creepiness factor made me fucking die.

"So... Foxy." I started, the fox looking at me, her head tilting in an honestly cute way. "Is there anything you like to do while you wait?"

She thought for a moment, putting her hand to her chin. She then smiled and looked back at me with her golden orbs.

"We could play a game if you want."

"Sure. Just name something." I said. I hoped she picked something other than hide-and-seek or something just as childish.

Once again, she thought for a moment.

"I heard someone say something about a game called 'truth or dare' yesterday. The rules seemed pretty straight forward."

I thought for a moment. This could either be fun or end horribly. Well, ending horribly didn't sound too bad anyway.

"Alright. As long as you don't make me do anything to get me fired already." I said, receiving a nod. "Okay. Truth or Dare?"

"A pirate lives for adventure! Dare of course!"

I thought for a moment. What could I make her do that would be relatively tame, yet hilarious for me to watch? Not much. So I went with something pretty lame.

"Put on every prop you have and keep them on until I say so."

"Ye call that a dare? That's nothin' for captain Foxy!" she said as she donned the many hats, hooks, and plastic jewelry pieces.

She may have talked big, but I wasn't going to lie. She looked fuckin' _ridiculous._ She looked proud that she pulled off the dare, until I started laughing. She started to look embarrassed, making me laugh harder. She suddenly reached maximum embarrassment when a parent with his children began to walk in, the man spotting Foxy and slowly backing out.

"S-see? It was nothin'." Foxy said in an attempt to cover her shame. "Truth or dare?"

"Since you picked dare, so do I."

Foxy thought for a moment, running into the same problem I did. She thought for a little bit, eventually settling on something.

"Sing for the next person you see."

Oh _fuck._ I had a decent singing voice, but I _hated_ singing in front of people. I waited for a while until I heard footsteps on the tile out in the hall. It was one of the employees who was carrying a box of party hats. Sighing, I went up to her. Last second, I put some confidence into it and slid in front of her, making the girl jump.

"~ _You are... My fire... the one... desire, believe... when I say 'I want it that way!'"_ I sang to the poor girl. I sounded pretty damn good, but it was pretty humiliating for both me and the employee. After a moment, the girl just laughed and shook her head as she walked past me.

Walking into the room, I sat back down as Foxy sat both amazed and laughing.

"You're pretty good! But you should see how red you are! You looked ridiculous!" she said as we both laughed.

"Says the one who looks like a pirate's Christmas tree right now."

This went on for a long while, and I eventually let her take off the props. We were actually having fun until she asked the next question, as I had picked truth this time.

"Alright. What's the worst thing ye have ever done?"

My heart nearly stopped. I was afraid to answer. I thought about lying, but I wasn't good at it apparently since she caught me lying earlier. My mind raced. What could I say? I couldn't let her know. She leaned in expectantly, sensing my nervousness. I knew she thought it was tamer than it was. There was no way she would think that I had-

"Stay here for now, Benny."

Oh thank god. It looked like a soccer-mom type had left her kid with us, stopping our game. I breathed a silent sigh of relief as the kid walked over to Foxy.

"Hello little one! I'm Captain Foxy, and this is me first mate Curtis the scallywag! Welcome to our Cove!"

"Hi. I'm... Benny." the kid said nervously.

Foxy chuckled and held the kid's hand, bringing him to sit down with us.

"No need to be afraid, Benny. We might be sea-scoundrels, but we won't hurt ya! Would you like to hear a story?" Foxy asked the boy,who nodded.

Foxy began telling a story as more kids filed in. It was a pretty neat story, even getting me interested, Every once in a while, she would get me to make up a part to the story. Of course, I decided to have fun with it and stay in character as a rough-n'-tumble pirate that was loyal to the brave Captain Foxy. When they asked why I didn't dress like a pirate, I said it was because I was taking a break from pirate duty for the moment. Every once in a while, I would have to get a kid to stop fucking with Foxy's stuff, or even Foxy herself, but other than that it was fine. Once Foxy was done with her story, the kids left to go see the band as they started a new song. Except for one.

This little shit was the same one that kept tugging on Foxy's coat. Right now, he was pulling on a button from the coat like he was about to rip the fucker off. I went to stop him... again. He quit reluctantly as Foxy lowered to give the boy a small hug. As she did, he reached up and _yanked on her fucking ears._ Foxy was shocked, but did nothing to reprimand the bastard as he pulled down hard on her jaw before I could stop him.

"Hey! Quit that. Didn't your parents teach you not to break stuff or hurt people?" I said, fuming. This little bastard was trying to make me lose my new job.

"Mommy said they're just some stupid robots. And I don't have to listen to you." he said as he tried to go back to fucking with Foxy.

I grabbed the kids arm firmly but not roughly and looked him in the eye.

"Your _mother_ will end up having to pay for the damages _you_ caused. If she has to do that, then that probably means no Christmas presents for you this year." I said, trying to strike at a personal level. I wasn't about to have someone get pissed at me over this.

"What are you doing to my child?"

Great. Soccer-mom cunt probably will want to speak to my manager.

"I'm stopping him from destroying what isn't his. Before you say anything, I want you to know that any damages will come out of _your_ pocket." I didn't know if that was true. I made that up to have them tell their little douche to quit. Surprisingly, it worked.

"Boy, come here! We can't afford to have you break anything!"

They left in a hurry, leaving me with a slightly damaged- oh fuck.

The whole bottom jaw was unhinged on Foxy, and her ear was bent to shit. I knew I didn't have much time until someone else saw the damages. I would have to fix them myself.

"What kind of parts do your ear and jaw take?"

"It's in the handbook over there. Why?" Foxy asked, attempting to put her jaw back in place.

"Because I'm fixing you before someone sees." I said as I grabbed the handbook.

I opened up the book to find the parts that were required, and decided to bring it with me to the 'Parts and Service' room that I saw earlier. I rushed to find the parts before anyone came to check on Foxy, and fortunately the main band was still performing their hokey pizza-themed songs. As I entered the Parts and Service room, I felt for the light and felt the cold wall of the eerie room. Once I switched on the light, I damn near had a heart attack. Sitting on the floor of the room were the old animatronics from the last restaurant.

"Well that's not creepy at all." I said sarcastically to myself.

I assumed the old Foxy would have the right parts, considering that he looked pretty much like a red, male version of Toy Foxy. The closer I got to him, though, the less I wanted to be around him. He had a cold, creepy vibe about him that didn't help me out much as I reached into his mouth for the spare jaw bolts. If he was active at all, it would only take one swift motion to chomp off my hand.

Not good thoughts to have.

I got every spare part I needed and headed out, making sure to turn the light back off and shut the door all the way. Maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I could swear I heard something move. Not that I was willing to stick around to find out what it was.

Rushing to Kid's Cove, I found Foxy sitting patiently for me. Setting the handbook down, I grabbed a chair and set to work.

"Just hold still a minute and I'll get you fixed up." I said as I went to fix the ear first. I found a fold in the soft fur and peeled it back, replacing the bent piece.

"Thank ye for doing this for me. It means a lot that ya care." she said as I finished carefully inserting the "new" piece.

I felt kinda bad that she didn't know I was doing this for _me,_ not her. But she didn't have to know that. As far as she should be concerned, everything I did was for her. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to prove that anytime soon. For now, though, I would just focus on not losing my two-and-a-half hour old job.

"No problem. Why didn't you stop him, though? Not only did you get parts of you broken, but you let my job get harder. Well, I know it's my job now to prevent that, and it's partially my fault, but you shouldn't just let yourself get hurt." I said, hiding my work back into the fold of fur.

Foxy seemed a bit ashamed, and looked away from me before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Curtis. I didn't want to make your job harder, but I didn't even consider ya. And for that, I'm so sorry. But they're just children having fun, and I don't have it in me to stop them."

Great, now I feel like an asshole.

"Don't apologize to _me_ about it. Like I said, it's partially, if not almost entirely my fault. But that kid wasn't 'having fun'. He was being destructive." I explained. "Now, please try not to move when I fix your jaw."

She nodded her head as she opened her mouth to let me fix her jaw. Reaching into the terrifying sharp-toothed maw of Foxy, I found the broken parts and replaced them. Even though she didn't need her jaw to speak, she still had to look aesthetically pleasing.

"All done. How does it feel?"

She moved her jaw up, down, left, and right before smiling a big smile and wrapping me in another weird hug.

"Thank ye, Curtis. I be glad to have ye as me friend." she said right before giving a quick little kiss on my cheek. It was kinda weird, but I took as a friendly gesture, so I didn't care all that much.

"Yeah, no problem. Next time, I'll try to be more watchful." I said, noticing children coming in from the band's last show. Getting back into my character, I made sure to keep a close eye on Foxy. I couldn't risk letting her have something bad happen to her.

Foxy told another one of her stories, and I kept her safe as I played along with her stories and participated with the children. They were still snotty brats in my eyes, but to Foxy, it was the greatest thing in the world. Seeing her so happy made me somewhat happy, even through the hardships I faced. With the new job, though, I could probably live comfortably. I could only hope that I would eventually move out of that dump of a neighborhood.

Eventually, the day was coming to an end so the children had to leave. As they left, I helped Foxy put up some art from the children. A lot of the art pieces included me, at least I think it was me, in one of Foxy's many stories. Some art pieces were _just_ of me. Honestly, it was kinda endearing to see some love from these little shits. Eventually, I knew that even I wouldn't be able to call them little shits.

I got to the last picture and almost belted out a loud laugh, but kept it in. Some kid drew me and Foxy, but there were lots of hearts all over it and we were holding hands. I guess that kid got the wrong idea about why I was with Foxy. I wanted to show Foxy, but she would probably get embarrassed. Actually, that was a _perfect_ reason to show her.

"Hey, cap'n. Check this out." I said, watching Foxy approach me.

I pointed to the drawing in my hands and held it out for her to see. She looked for just a second before she immediately looked away from me in embarrassment. Wow, she was easy to embarrass though.

"I-it must be because they saw me kiss ya on the cheek. Yer friend was right, though. We are cute together." she said quietly before smiling up at me expectantly, as if she wanted me to agree.

"Yeah, I suppose we do. Thanks to me, of course." I said with a laugh.

"Haha, yeah..." Foxy said while looking at the drawing.

Hol' up. Did she agree that I was cute? That's a first. Never had a robot tell me I was cute before. She seemed to realize what she said and immediately became embarrassed for what seemed like the millionth time.

"W-what I mean is... I mean ye _are_ cute, but... I mean-"

"It's no big deal. I don't care if you think I'm 'cute'. If it makes you feel better, you're cute too." I said to the fox animatronic. She _was_ pretty cute, I guess. She was like a fluffy little puppy or something, and her personality made her that much more adorable.

Foxy seemed taken aback by my words. She was silent for a moment before coming closer to me. She then came in for _yet another_ hug, but it was a slower, more tender hug which I returned once more. Foxy looked me in the eye and smiled before speaking.

"I can already tell that yer gonna be a great partner. I may not have been active for very long, but you've already become me best friend. Yer a caring, sweet person that I look forward to bein' around. Thank you."

Ouch. She got that last bit wrong for sure. Hell, just two days ago I helped Jett beat these two guys up when I saw him hitting them. Knowing him, he probably just hit them because they were black, but I joined in because they were the ones that said they could beat my ass. Now, they're afraid to even _look_ toward my block. Guess that's what happens when you threaten someone who can break your arms.

But Foxy said that I was a good person, and she looked so happy to be around me. Maybe it's because she's made to be happy, but she seemed more excited to talk to me than to talk to the children. Plus, she gave me a little kiss. It made me almost feel bad that I was kinda lying to her about who I was, but she didn't have to know. If she was happy, then my job would be easier.

"I look forward to working with you as well, Foxy. I'm glad to be your best friend, and I will be sure to do my best to keep your job as easy as possible. I put my life on it."

She seemed ecstatic to hear that. She held me tighter before letting go and speaking to me.

"Well, I'll see ya tomorrow. Goodnight, Curtis!" she said as I bid her goodnight as well. I passed the rest of the band as I left as they waved enthusiastically at me. I returned the wave as I headed out the door. I was pretty stoked about having this new job, and hopefully I could use it to improve my life for the better.

I reached my crumbling apartment and took off my hat and shirt before flopping onto my bed. It had been a long day, but it was a good one. I couldn't believe it, but I was _excited_ to go to work tomorrow. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, dreaming about That Night.

 _"You stepped into the wrong neighborhood."_

* * *

 _AN: Howdy. Lord Jerry here. This was pretty much an exposition chapter, not full of much interesting subject matter. Eventually, we'll get into the struggles Curtis and Jett face, as well as the ones they cause. What did y'all think? Any questions or concerns? Until next time!_


	2. A New Mystery

I woke up at the usual time of 5:30, grabbing my name tag and hat for my new job. I didn't get the sleep I wanted, but when have I ever slept well? Heading out the door, I saw Jett heading my way.

"'Sup Curt. I came to give you the money for the tokens you gave me at the arcade. Still can't believe you were given a job."

I wan't sure what he meant by that, but I just ignored it.

"Yeah, but it pays pretty damn good. If I work there long enough, I wouldn't doubt that I could leave this shithole."

Jett and I laughed as we walked to Freddy's until we spotted something. Or rather, some _one._ Or rather, a _couple_ someones. Walking down the same sidewalk as us were two guys who said they would kick my ass. Unfortunately for them, I didn't take too kindly to pure bullshit. Also, Jett would have qualms about their race, so he would definitely fight them if I did. I wasn't a fan of his viewpoints, but we could still be friends even if we had different opinions. It's just that his opinion was that non-aryans should all perish. You know, little stuff.

"Hey, motherfucker. Did you come to kick my ass? 'Cuz here I am. Go ahead. Kick my ass." I said, mocking him.

"Fuck off, white boy. I don't feel like fuckin' with you right now." he said, walking faster. When he tried to pass me, I stopped him.

"I don't think you understand. You don't have a choice." I said, shoving him back in front of me.

He posted up, ready to fight, but he didn't see Jett coming in to deck his ass in the face. The other guy went to swing at Jett, but Jett just punched him too. While the first guy held his bleeding nose, I took the chance to throw him to the ground and start stomping on his head. He tried to cover his head, but when he would I would kick him in the gut. Meanwhile, Jett had the other guy by his hair and was hammering the back of his skull.

Once we felt like they had enough, we left them where they were on the ground, Jett spitting on them as we continued our walk. I didn't even look back at them as I headed to the family-friendly restaurant/arcade. However, I did notice a small amount of blood speckling my shoe. Hopefully, nobody would notice.

Things like that were a common occurrence around here. Someone would threaten someone, and somebody would get their ass beat. Fortunately, Freddy's was in a nicer part of town, so I probably wouldn't know anybody who would fight me there. Once we reached my place of employment, Jett came in with me, probably to blow more money on the arcade. With how much he spends on the arcade, I'm surprised he brought himself to pay me back.

"Heya pals! Glad to see you back!" the blue rabbit Bunny or whatever said, skipping toward us. If that animatronic was anything, it was a faggot. Not in a homosexual way, but in a faggot way.

Jett just looked at me, sharing the same expression of annoyance.

"Hey, Bonnie. How are you?" Jett asked in a monotone voice.

"Great! After Curtis got his new job, I had fun playing games with you and the kids! You're much better than I am at those games!" Bonnie said, Jett groaning under his breath.

Jett turned and gave me a look of ' _Get out of here while you still can._ '

Don't have to tell me twice. I rushed away from Jett and the androgynous bunny, heading toward Kid's Cove. Putting on my hat and name tag, I entered the Cove to see Foxy sitting quietly, waiting for me.

"Hey, Foxy. Ready to start the day?" I asked, her face lighting up upon seeing me.

"Curtis! I missed ya! Did you sleep well?" she asked, flashing a sharp-toothed smile.

"Yeah. I did." I lied. "How 'bout you?"

Foxy smiled and laughed before answering.

"I don't need sleep, but thank ye for your concern. It's... really sweet."

I guess that makes sense, considering she's a robot-thing. I wasn't exactly sure what the animatronics actually were, considering they had some very non-robot characteristics. Like the ability to eat, and subtle breathing motions. And how warm she was to the touch...

That sounded kinda creepy.

"Anything interesting happen?" I asked.

Foxy started to shake her head, but then perked up and spoke.

"Actually, we got to meet the night guard! He's the head of security, Scott Coleman. Kinda awkward fella." Foxy explained, recalling the previous night.

I nodded in acknowledgement. I hadn't met the guy or even heard of him, but if he was head of security, he must be important. I decided that I would have to meet him some time.

"What did you actually do, though? Do you just sit around until morning or...?"

"Oh, we just talk usually, or come up with new show ideas. I've actually got a new show idea for today! I'll be interacting more with the kids, as well as with my friends. We'll be doin' a treasure hunt! So, I'll need you to do somethin' for me." Foxy said, receiving a nod from me.

"I'll need you to hide this treasure chest." she said, lifting the chest. "I want to have a real search, so I need you to hide it from not only everyone else, but me as well. Since nobody's here yet, now will be perfect. Oh! And don't let the other animatronics see it either!" she ordered.

I just nodded once more and took the treasure chest, Heading out of Kid's Cove, I bumped into someone. Looking at the person, I saw it was the girl I had sung to.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there."

She took one look at me and her face lit up in recognition.

"Hey, you're that guy that sang to me! You sing pretty well. I'm Emily."

"Thanks. I'm Curtis. Foxy's assistant." I said, readjusting the chest in my hands.

"Well, it's nice to actually know who you are now. I know someone probably put you up to that last time, so don't worry about it. See you around, Curtis!"

I reciprocated her parting words and continued on my way, looking for somewhere to hide the 'treasure'. Looking inside of the chest, I saw what looked to be cheap pirate props, plastic toys, and some arcade tokens. Perfect for little kids.

I could see Jett playing an arcade game while Bonnie insisted on bothering him. He looked ready to die at the moment. I searched and searched for a good spot, but it was hard to find a good but reasonable spot. Eventually, though, I found a secluded corner area with two arcade machines that had a small space that would fit the chest perfectly. Sliding the chest in, I turned to tell Foxy I was done.

"Hi!"

I looked down to see an animatronic that looked like a kid holding a balloon. He reached out to me, balloon in hand, offering the pink balloon to me. I raised my hand to turn down the offer when I heard Jett approaching.

"Free balloons? Ah yeah, I'll take one." he said, grabbing the balloon.

"Hey Curtis! Whatcha doin'?" the blue bunny twink asked.

"Nothin'. Just checkin' something. Hey look! Kids to play with. Go ahead and do that." I said, the bunny turning and immediately rushing to the kids with a smile.

Jett let out a sigh of relief and no longer looked like he was ready for death to claim him.

"Thanks, Curtis. I owe you one."

"What? You couldn't come up with that yourself?"

"Shut up. Anyway, what're you doing?" he asked, counting his tokens.

"Nothing anymore. Right now though I gotta head back to Kid's Cove."

Jett just nodded and followed me into Kid's Cove, seeing Foxy setting up her area more and arranging props. Next to her was a kinda goofy looking dude in what seemed like a security guard's getup. He was heading to the door when he saw me enter.

"Oh, uh, you must be Curtis. I'm Scott Coleman, head of security. I was...uh, just checking on Foxy here. She really thinks highly of you, you know."

"Yeah? Well, it's nice to meet you. What were you checking, if I may ask?" I asked, wanting to know what might be wrong.

"Nothing much. It's just that... Mr. Afton wanted to see if there were any difficulties for the animatronics. He said he'll come by eventually to take a look for himself."

"Who's Mr. Afton?" I asked. I had never heard of the guy.

"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know. He was one of the co-founders of Freddy's and the inventor of the animatronics. Henry Emily was the other co-founder. 'Mr. Fazbear' is just this place's manager. He's, uh, contractually obligated to go by that name on company grounds. Anyway, I... gotta go get some sleep. See you around." he said, leaving.

Jett just waved at him, not receiving a wave back. Jett started to look pissed off, but just dropped it as he followed me into the Cove, his girly-ass pink balloon floating along behind him. I personally think he's too old for balloons. But what do I know?

"I've hidden the box, Foxy. It's a pretty good spot, so the search might take a while."

Foxy beamed up at me, setting down a ship wheel prop.

"Excellent! Thank ye, Curtis. I knew I could count on me first mate!" she said, Jett chuckling at 'first mate'. Yeah, laugh it up, Jett, you dildo.

"Not a problem. What's the plan for today, cap'n?" I asked.

Foxy grinned, apparently glad I asked.

"Last night, I came up with a new story, and figured a way to work in the treasure hunt. Mr. Fazbear has given me plenty for me activities with the kiddos, so the treasure hunts will become more frequent. Your job will be to give hints, but only if they can solve the riddles you use as hints. Think ye can come up with riddles?" Foxy asked.

"No problem. I can make 'em pretty easily. After all, I'll be making it for kids to solve."

Foxy wrapped her arm around my shoulder and gave a hearty laugh.

"Great! I couldn't ask fer a better first mate! Best be quick, though. I can hear the little ones approaching." Foxy announced, children entering the Cove, their parents heading off to watch over the older siblings or to do whatever.

Jett just stood around awkwardly, not sure what to do. He stood next to me for the most part, handing off his no longer wanted balloon to a little girl. Foxy started her story, the children sitting quietly, enthralled by the tale.

"And just like that, the vile Captain Wretch stole the treasure, leaving our sinking ship behind as he went to hide his newfound fortune." Foxy told loudly, the children gasping.

"How did you two escape the sinking ship?" a little boy asked.

Foxy seemed prepared for this question, giving a loud, exaggerated chuckle before answering.

"Why, he forgot about the small boat that me first mate had on board! It was hard to paddle, but we made it to shore, ready to find our lost treasure. Luckily for us, we have a crew ready to help us, and a list of clues that he accidentally left behind!" Foxy announced.

"Who's your crew?" a child asked, Foxy smiling widely at him.

"Well, it's you all of course! I couldn't ask fer a finer crew! Now, what're we waiting for? Let's get ourselves that first clue!"

I stood up straighter, preparing my speaking voice, ready to play into my character.

"Well, I dunno about this one. Kinda hard to figure out. What does he mean by 'the game you play is not far away'? I didn't know we were playing a game, Captain! This seemed serious to _me_!" I said, playing dumb. Foxy grinned, seeming to catch on easily. Not that I made it hard.

"I have an idea! Come on, crew! Let's find our treasure!" Foxy said, leading the 'crew' on their search for the crummy treasure.

"That was the corniest shit I've ever seen you do, bro." Jett scoffed.

"Yeah? Well this 'corny shit' pays enough to where I don't give a fuck." I replied.

We just kinda waited around, the occasional kid asking for another clue before running off to tell their friends the clue. Jett eventually went outside to take a quick smoke break, leaving me by myself. Jett and I were kinda square when it came to substances, considering we don't really drink and we've never done drugs, but Jett would smoke every once in a while.

While I waited in Kid's Cove, I decided I was going to organize the props a bit better when something happened that chilled me to the bone.

 **"Do not be afraid. Follow my voice, and keep quiet."** a feminine voice in my head ordered.

Like I was gonna do _that._ I wasn't just gonna follow some spooky-ass voice in my head! Just that sentence alone made me wanna piss myself.

 **"Go now. It is important. _Please_." **the voice begged.

It didn't sound malicious, but it was still a spooky-ass voice. However, I decided it might be better for my health if I did what it said. Who knows what it could do to me? I followed its call, and was led to the 'Prize Corner' place. The pull was strongest near the box at the back. Something just radiated off of it. Something... unnatural.

 **"Good. We don't have much time. There's something you need to know. Mr. Afton is not to be trusted. Whatever you do, do not let him out of your sight when he is around. Please."** it said, begging me to do as it asked.

Well, alright then, Creepy-ass Mystery Voice. I'll make sure to do that. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and have a panic attack and piss myself.

"Yo, Curtis. What're you doing in here?" Jett asked from behind me.

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts, as I was busy recovering from what might be a schizophrenic episode or something.

"Just wandering around. Foxy's still lookin' for that treasure. What do you need?" I asked.

"Some guys that are friends with the guys we beat up are here. They wanna meet us outside. You know what to do."

I nodded, pissed off already. These guys just didn't learn. Jett and I were known for being the mean-as-fuck white dudes who beat the shit out of people. I mean, Dexter and Larry fit that category too, but most people didn't really know Dexter, and most people thought Larry was Hispanic, even though he wasn't. Like, not at all. I went to look for Foxy, and found her searching around with the children, the other animatronics helping out.

"Hey, Captain Foxy. I'll be heading out for just a moment. But don't worry. I'll be back for the adventure in no time!" I said, the fox nodding her head before continuing the search.

I turned around and immediately got my pissed off look. I removed my hat and name tag as I stepped out the door with Jett, seeing the group he was talking about. It was three guys, plus the bloody dudes from before. I stashed away the hat in my pants as well as the name tag while Jett removed his shirt, his white tank top underneath showing off his tattoo.

"Hey, dildos. Heard you wanted to see us? Why don't you come 'see us' in that alleyway?" I offered.

They looked around before nodding, all of us heading into the alley.

"Aiight, mothafuckas. You fuck with our boys, we whoop your ass." one of them said, stepping closer.

"And if you fuck with ours, _we_ whoop _yours._ " I heard from behind me. I turned around to see it was Dexter, who began to light a cigarette.

"That was fast. Good to see you, man." Jett said.

Looks like he had called Dexter before coming to get me.

"You still only got y'all three. It's five of us." the other guy said.

"Yeah? Well I've got a record of kicking y'all's asses. Plus, the police ain't caught us yet. You have criminal records, so who will they believe?" I asked, feeling the gun tucked into my waistband.

"Not some fuckin' darky, that's who." Jett said, further pissing off the other group. I didn't exactly agree with the way Jett was, but if they would threaten us because of _our_ skin color, then I wouldn't give a shit how he treated them.

The lead guy immediately went to swing at Jett, but Jett backed up as I went in to punch the guy in the temple. He blacked out for a moment as I swung at the next guy, who didn't seem to realize what was happening yet. My knuckles hit his nose as I heard a loud _crack_. He held his nose as blood poured out, and I punched him again in the temple, as well as finishing with an uppercut to the already broken nose.

Jett tackled the third guy while Dexter helped me re-beat the bloodied dudes. Jett hammered on the guy's skull with one hand as he choked him out with the other hand. I pummeled the broken nose of the one I had stomped before, the guy shielding his head while trying to get a hit in. What I _didn't_ expect was for a fist to collide with the back of my head, making me see stars while another fist hit me in the lip. I recovered as quickly as I could, dodging another swing.

I was starting to have enough. Grabbing a rock off the ground, I hesitated, but when I heard the footsteps I knew what I was going to do. I turned around rapidly and smashed the stone into the skull of broken-nose #1. He fell to the ground, but didn't get back up. Instead, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started twitching, blood spilling from his skull. Nobody had noticed, so I went to the guy who blacked out and gave one swift kick while he was still down.

"Oh, shit! You killed hi-" one of them started, just to be put in a chokehold by Dexter.

I wasted no time in helping Dexter beat the guy down. He was blacking out too, and I pounded his head with blow after blow, rock still in hand. If one was down, they all had to go. It's how we avoided getting caught That Night. Once the guy was also bleeding and twitching, I did the same for the others, Jett and Dexter doing the same.

We stood over the bodies, which had promptly stopped moving.

"What. The. _Fuck,_ Curtis?" Jett shouted. "Now we have to hide these guys. We already have cops on our case, man. What now? Do you just _have_ to kill now? Is that something you just need to satisfy?"

"Hey! You're the white supremacist here! You should want them dead."

"Not when the police are after us! Whatever. Let's just dump 'em into that dumpster. There's no cameras around here, and that dumpster is never used. I know that for a fact." Jett said, grabbing a corpse, clutching his head and mumbling to myself.

We quickly did the deed, rushing out of the alleyway and looking for witnesses or cameras. When the coast was clear, we headed to Freddy's as I donned my hat and name tag. I didn't get anymore blood on me surprisingly, so that was good.

This wasn't the only time we've killed. And it probably wouldn't be the last. We lived around rough folks in a rough part of town and had a rough history. Violent crimes were just part of the deal. No matter who you were. I didn't count how many I've killed on the streets, but I'll say it's been two or three. Depends on who you ask. I wasn't proud of it. Not at all. Especially the one from That Night.

"First Mate! Good to see ya! We've found the treasure!" Foxy announced, Dexter snickering. Fuck you, Dexter.

I faked a smile, pretending we didn't just kill five people. I didn't like that we were getting good at pretending we didn't just see people die.

"Awesome! So, are we dividing it up amongst our loyal crew, Captain?"

"Why, of course we are! We couldn'ta done it without 'em!" Foxy declared, the children cheering as well as the other animatronics. Soon, however, after the chest's contents were distributed, the band went back up on stage to perform, but not before Bonnie spoke to Jett.

"Hey, buddy! Wanna watch me shred on my guitar?"

Jett just groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe later. See ya."

We headed to the Cove to wait on Foxy as the children followed her to what would be snack time. They could have eaten pizza, but no. They decided shitty snacks were better. Though it probably had a bit to do with Foxy just being their favorite animatronic and therefore would want to do anything to be around her. It still bothered me that she could eat, but I didn't want to think about it.

They just colored for a while until most of them decided to go and see the main show. Picking up the drawings, Jett and Dexter looked over my shoulder to take a peak. Most of the pictures were just of Foxy, some depicting the treasure hunt, while others were both me and Foxy. However, one was just me, I think, as it read:

'Thank you for helping us find the tresher First Mate!'

Ignoring the misspelling of 'treasure', I found it to be a bit heartwarming. It almost made me forget what we just did. Almost made me forget the sudden violence streak we've been having.

"Aw, how sweet. Looks like you've got fans, Curt." Dexter said loudly, his usual obnoxious voice making me want to punch him.

"But wait! There's more!" Jett said, grabbing a drawing of me and Foxy holding hands. That makes two now.

"Whoa. I see how it is, Curt. I see why you took this job." Dexter said, wiggling his eyebrows. Fuck you, Dexter.

Foxy looked over to see the picture and seemed to look embarrassed for a moment. Then, she saw me and got a more serious look.

"How did ye hurt your lip?" Foxy asked, concerned.

Dexter took this as an opportunity to be a cunt.

"He was practicing kissin' you too hard and hurt himself."

Fuck you, Dexter. You fucking dildo-munching dickwad.

Foxy seemed at a loss for words for a moment, but recovered and gave a small giggle.

"That's an interestin' way to do it. But I hope it doesn't hurt too bad, Curtis." Foxy said sincerely.

"That's... not how I did it but thanks." I replied.

Foxy just nodded in understanding, but stayed close to me for the remainder of the time we were there. Dexter got bored really quickly and said his goodbyes, leaving Freddy's, and Jett eventually followed, doing the same. That left just me and Foxy. The main show was over, and not many children came by. In fact, a lot of people were beginning to leave the restaurant. It wasn't exactly closing time, but it was getting a bit late, I noticed.

What really got my attention, though, was something I didn't notice about Foxy before. Turns out some little douchebag had once again bent one of her ears. These shitheads couldn't keep their hands to themselves. Foxy also had stains on her fur and clothing from grubby hands.

Looks like I'll be staying after to fix these issues. I didn't expect to be paid overtime, though, considering I should have been watching over her instead of...

Luckily, I knew how to fix these issues. Working at an autoshop really helped with repairing mechanical parts.

"Hey, Foxy. I'm gonna stay after work to fix your bent ear. Remember what I said before?"

Foxy just bent her head in shame.

"I'm sorry. It's jus' that I can't allow meself to get angry at the kiddos." she said, looking at the ground.

"It's fine. Just be sure to avoid getting damaged. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

She just laughed as I went to go get parts to fix her. Entering the Parts and Services room, I flipped the light on and saw the old Foxy where he was before. Approaching his creepy ass, I got to work removing the parts needed for Foxy's ear and grabbed some cleaning supplies nearby. Stepping out, I shut the door behind me and saw Scott down the hall.

"Hey, uh, be sure to lock that room! Can't let it be... open for the night." he ordered. I turned and locked the room behind me, confused as to why it was so important.

"Thanks. By the way, what are you still doing here? It's, uh, past closing time, you know. It'll be midnight soon." he explained.

"Oh, just getting Foxy back to normal. You know how kids are. Can't keep their hands to themselves."

"Alright then. If you, uh, need anything, let me know. But be sure to get out of here before midnight. Uh, company policy and all." he said.

I just shrugged and kept going until I reached Kid's Cove. Foxy smiled upon seeing me and the parts, but her smile faltered a bit upon seeing the cleaning supplies.

"So yer gonna wash me as well, eh? I... Alright then." Foxy said awkwardly. What was the big deal?

"Yeah. So I was just talking to Scott, and he said something about leaving before midnight. What's that about?" I asked, Foxy looking a bit confused.

"I'm not entirely sure. But I would hurry to leave. So far, every night there's been a criminal that enters the building. We've tried to catch him, but he has a habit of jus' disappearing, replaced by a Freddy head."

Well that's fucking weird.

"Where's he usually at? I can help catch him, you know." I offered.

"He's always in the office at the end of the hall. He just sits in the chair, looking at a tablet."

I excused myself and went to look at the office she was talking about, only to see Scott sitting there looking at the tablet. Hold up just a second.

"You don't mean Scott, do you?" I asked. That would be ironic for the head of security to be a criminal, but what's even stranger is why he wasn't caught by her earlier if that was the case.

"No, it's not him. At midnight, the criminal takes his place until six, when Scott reappears."

That could only mean one thing.

"Looks like you're experiencing a glitch. That not only doesn't make sense, but it also is pretty much impossible. You've been after poor ol' Scott, Foxy." I said with a laugh.

Foxy just went wide-eyed at the statement, almost offended.

"I ain't mistaken, Curtis. I'm certain of it."

"No, you aren't. Believe me. Look, I'll go ahead and see if I can get you fixed up before midnight. I don't want you or the others to attack me because of a glitch." I said, immediately got to work.

The ear was an easy fix. Looking at the time on my watch, I saw it was 11:25. Might as well see what was causing the glitch. I wasn't a robot programmer, but I could fix something physical. Grabbing the manual from before, I looked through the blueprints for Foxy and was honestly surprised by what I saw. Artificial organs? Synthetic heated skin? Facial recognition for criminal data banks? Artificial intelligence? These were fuckin' androids! Or something like that.

I went back to Foxy and moved the folds of artificial skin around her skull out of the way. I could see the endoskeleton underneath, and I looked in the manual to see what the matter was. Then, I saw it. Inside was a small device that was about the size of a coin. It was square and blinking, and apparently just stuck onto the head. Not seeing it in the manual, I removed it only for Foxy to go limp for a short moment.

I got scared and was about to put it back when Foxy shot back up, looking as if nothing had happened.

"What's the matter, Curtis? Does it look bad? ...What is that?" she asked, seeing the device in my hand.

"I... don't know. I'm gonna ask Scott about it." I said, moving quickly.

This device may have been the cause for the glitch. But who would put it there? Who would put a device that made the animatronic see people as criminals during the night on the skull of Foxy? Then, I remembered the creepy-ass voice.

 _ **"Don't trust Mr. Afton"**_

Why would he do that? Seeing Scott, he almost jumped out of his chair upon seeing me, but relaxed when he saw it was just me.

"Scott, I need to show you something. I found this device in Foxy's head. Can you explain what it is?" I asked him.

He seemed confused as I handed him the device. He looked it over, probably not really knowing what he was looking at.

"I... don't know. Why?"

"Because I think it's the reason why they have been after you. Foxy told me they saw you turn into a criminal after midnight, and I think that device has something to do with it. I would have suspected it was you, considering you were the one alone with Foxy earlier, but since it's your neck on the line it wouldn't make sense." I said with a chuckle.

Scott didn't chuckle. Instead, he gazed at the device with scrutiny. Then, he got up from his seat.

"Come on. We're checking on the other animatronics." he said, me following close behind.

We reached the stage, seeing the animatronics standing eerily silent on the dark stage. Climbing up, the two of us got to work, removing the devices carefully, the animatronics never moving. It was creepy as _fuck_. Leaving the stage, we rushed to do the same for a silent balloon boy. Finally, we reached the Prize Corner. We slowly approached the box in the back, the light music playing near the box. Opening the lid, I saw a puppet-like animatronic sitting at the bottom. Reaching toward it, I removed the device and closed the lid and felt my blood go icy.

 **"This is only the beginning. The night guard may be safe, but others will not be. Stay vigilant. Do not let me down. And remember who not to trust."**

Okay then, you creepy fuck.

"Uh, what's up with you? You, uh, kinda went blank for a moment there." Scott said.

"I'm fine. Just tired I guess."

Scott just nodded and headed back to his office as I followed. We had removed the devices, but we had to be certain. I watched the minutes pass by, each minute coming closer to the moment of truth.

Then, my watch read 12:00. It was time to see if we were right. Scott grabbed onto the Freddy mask on the desk while I just stood around like a dumbass. Soon, we heard footsteps down the hall. It was silent, except for the footsteps echoing down the hall. They got closer, and closer, and closer until...

"Curtis! I didn't know you worked at night!"

Of course it had to be Bonnie.

"Hey Bonnie. Where are the others?"

"We're right here! Good to see you again, Curtis." Freddy said in his deep voice.

"Hey, he's pretty cute! I'm Chica the chicken! Nice to meet ya!" 'Chica' said. She was wearing what looked like pink booty-shorts, had a punk-rock hair style, and only had a bib to cover her... top assets. It was a strange experience.

Scott let out a heavy breath, letting go of the mask. Color came back to his face as he slumped into his chair.

"I've never been so glad to hear their annoying voices." he said with a light laugh.

I laughed with him, then looked to the devices in my hands. It was so strange. What was there to gain by putting them there? I had read about their ties into criminal data banks, so maybe someone was trying to keep them from recognizing somebody. It was a frightening thought.

"Hey! We aren't annoying! I have a lovely singing voice." Chica explained, the group of animatronics now fully inside the office.

I just ignored them and went back to Kid's Cove, the other animatronics busy arguing with Scott about whether they were annoying or not. Entering the Cove, I saw Foxy give her usual smile and tail-wag.

"Curtis! Yer back!I guess that means it's time for... washing."

Nodding my head, I grabbed the cleaning supplies and got started on the stains. They were mostly on the arms, as there were about four of them. They came out pretty easily, so I went to get rid of the ones on her clothes. Finally, there was the one by her crotch area. I went to clean the stain on her pants when she stopped me.

"Why'd you stop me?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"It's just that... that's a sensitive area..." she said, embarrassed.

Oh my God. Please don't tell me that means what I think it means.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She was silent for a moment, but leaned in close to whisper in my ear.

"It's where me lady parts are."

Son of a _bitch_. Why? Why did she need those as a children's entertainer? As a robot? And of course she would have a stain near there. Of course it was my job to deal with it. Of. Fucking. Course.

"Well, I need to do this, so just bear with me for a moment." I said.

Spraying cleaning fluids onto the cloth, I brought it to the stain by her... bits and got to scrubbing. Foxy covered her eyes in shame, and I kinda felt bad for her. This was probably the most embarrassing and personal thing someone has ever done to her. As I scrubbed the area, she started to wiggle uncomfortably, placing her hand on my shoulder and gripping tightly. It was a strange motion, but when I looked up, I understood.

Her head was tilted back and her eyes were closed as she breathed heavily. Looking back to the wiggling of her lower half, I was pretty damn grossed out. My actions were pleasuring her by mistake, and she was doing her best to hide it. I was pretty disgusted, but she seemed to be as well, so I spared her the humiliation and pretended I didn't notice. Technically, since I was underage this would be illegal if she was a human woman.

Weird how life'll do that to you. One day, you're a poor kid with a history of crime, and the next day you're still a poor criminal kid, but you're also pleasuring a fox pirate robot woman by mistake. What a fuckin' life.

The stain was finally gone, so I stopped scrubbing when Foxy looked down at me, not meeting my eyes as she breathed heavily.

"I... I think ye missed a spot. Can ya... keep scrubbing to be sure?"

Okay. Gross. I really didn't want to, so I had to deny her.

"Nah, it'll be fine, so-"

"Please. I... _really_ want to be sure. Besides, it's yer job to follow my orders, ain't it?"

Fuck my life. This was a pretty shitty predicament. I could only imagine what Jett would say if he found out.

' _Ha! You fuckin' furry!'_

Fuck you, Jett, you skinhead bitch.

Following Foxy's orders, I continued scrubbing the area, her hand gripping my shoulder tightly as she raised her hips while I scrubbed at the already clean area. After just a few moments, her hand squeezed my shoulder tightly and her hips bucked upward a single time, a hiss escaping her mouth as her body began to shake.

"T-thanks, Curtis. I... r-really appreciate it."

I bet you do, you pervy pirate. Pretending I didn't just make a white and pink fox robot orgasm, I put down the cleaning supplies and got to drying her fur and clothes. She looked at me in shame but smiled, thanking me again. After drying her off, I got up and looked at my watch, seeing it was about 1:00.

"Alright, Captain. I'm gonna call it a night and head home. Goodnight, and see you tomorrow."

Foxy grabbed onto my arm and reluctantly met my eyes.

"Well, ye could always... stay here for the night." she offered.

While I didn't want to sleep in a room with the fox that made me do the female equivalent of jacking her off, I decided there was no real harm in it. It was cold outside, and I wouldn't have to go back to my shitty neighborhood where I was likely to be shot.

"Sure. But where'll I sleep?"

Foxy grabbed some pillows and a blanket she had nearby and set them down. I assumed they were for the children, but they would be fine. Laying down, I covered myself with the blanket partially as Foxy turned off the lights. She then came toward me and laid down next to me, looking at the ceiling.

"Have a good sleep, matey. I'll be happy to work with ye tomorrow." she said, wrapping an arm around me.

It was weird. Like, really fucking weird. But I didn't care all that much. Setting an alarm on my phone, I allowed myself to drift to sleep, Foxy watching over me. I just hoped she didn't fiddle with my pecker or something while I slept. I doubted she would, but I would still worry. She obviously liked me a little bit, but I guessed she wouldn't act on anything. Besides, I was still underage.

Soon, I fell asleep, Foxy's warmth and steady breathing making my sleep peaceful. It didn't take long for me to become fully unconscious, my nightmares coming back again.

 _"You know what happens to people like you. Last mistake, fucker."_

* * *

 _Howdy! Lord Jeraldo here. The mystery begins. What is Afton's plan, if it even is Afton? What will come of Curtis's past? Will he reciprocate Foxy's hidden feelings? Will Jett stop acting like a dick? Probably not, but you never know. This chapter wasn't as long as I wanted it to be, and I feel as though the pacing is terrible, but I'm not sure what I can do to fix it. That being said, if there are any other questions or concerns, please be sure to let me know. If it sucked, please tell me why. If not, also tell me why. See you next time!_


	3. Mixed Developments

I woke with a start, my blood cold, and my bones like ice. Looking around, I could see Foxy with her arm wrapped around me, looking at me with a smile. I looked down at myself, glad to see my pecker remained un-fiddled by a furry white hand. I wasn't sure why my blood felt so cold, but I felt a strange sense of foreboding toward the parts and service room. It was spookier than fuck, so I just ignored it. I turned to Foxy and decided to greet her.

"Mornin', Captain. Anything interesting happen while I was asleep?"

Foxy shook her head before answering.

"Not a thin' happened. Scott is wrapping up his shift, so I s'pose that means it's time to open up the restaurant soon."

I nodded, getting up and cracking my back. Believe it or not, whether you have pillows or don't, sleeping on the floor is uncomfortable as all hell. Turning to Foxy, I decided to find out what needed to be done for the day.

"What're the plans, Foxy? Anything exciting?"

The pirate fox smiled wide and nodded her head quickly, clearly excited.

"I was hopin' to ask Mr. Fazbear if we could perform on the main stage with the others! I have a whole play thought out, with plenty o' excitement and drama!" she explained enthusiastically.

I mulled over the thought for just a moment before agreeing to the proposition. I figured it wouldn't be a problem, as the shows the rest of the animatronics were putting on were growing pretty stale. Especially when they would sometimes repeat songs throughout the day.

"Alright. I'll ask about it as soon as I can. This place could use something interesting."

Foxy practically jumped with joy when I said that. It was clear that she was really looking forward to performing for people older than five years old for once. It had only been a few days, but it was clear that the children had been wearing on her patience and nerves, though she would never admit or act on it.

"Thank ye so much, Curtis! I can't wait to perform with ya!"

 _With_ me?

"What do you mean ' _with_ me'?"

"Why, you'll be playin' a part, o' course! You'll be Curtis the Scoundrel, my loyal first mate!"

To be honest, I didn't really think that was such a good idea, considering my acting skills weren't too good past lying to the cops. But I did quite enjoy playing my character...

"I can do that, but I don't really look the part. Kinda hard to be a pirate when I'm dressed like an employee."

Foxy held up a finger and turned around, rummaging through a trunk and pulling out a clean pirate outfit. Taking it, I checked, and sure enough it was my size exactly.

"It was the old Foxy's outfit, but I'm sure you'll look even more dashing in it!" she said enthusiastically.

I just smiled and went to investigate the sound coming from the front of the building, seeing the manager opening up the door as Scott left, tipping his hat to Mr. Fazbear. The rest of the band was up on the stage looking over their equipment, waving at me when they saw me.

I went and hid in the bathroom for a while, not wanting Mr. Fazbear to know I had stayed overnight, as it was apparently against company policy. After about ten minutes, I left and checked to see if the coast was clear, leaving and blending in with the incoming group of employees. Spotting the manager, I approached him to talk to him about Foxy's proposition.

"Ah, Curtis! Good to see you, boy! What's that in your hands?" he asked, pointing to the outfit in my hands.

"Well, Foxy wanted to try performing on stage with the band as a way to make things more interesting. As for the outfit, she wanted me to play a part." I explained, the portly man listening pensively.

"That could work. If you can arrange for it to work, and have everything prepared, then I don't see why you couldn't." he said.

"Awesome. When should we get started with preparations?"

He just shrugged before responding simply.

"Whenever you can, I suppose."

Well okay then.

Thanking him, I went to tell Foxy the good news.

"Hey, pal!"

Fuck you, you twink-ass robot bitch boy.

"Hey, Bonnie. What do you want?"

"Just wantin' to see how you're doing! Foxy told us about the play she came up with while you slept. We already have our parts practiced!"

For once, something Bonnie said didn't make me want to bunch his buck teeth down his throat.

"Great! That's... actually good to hear. Less prep time. Anyway, I gotta go back to Foxy, so deuces." I said, throwing up the 'peace' sign and walking away.

I reached Kid's Cove and found Foxy just looking over a stack of papers, presumably a script of some sort. She spotted me as I entered and greeted me. I told her what Mr. Fazbear said to me about the play and she literally jumped with joy, doing adorable little hops.

"Excellent! I just can't wait! While I tell the kiddos stories, memorize your parts. I want this to be perfect!" Foxy said, thrusting the script into my hands.

Taking the script, I sat down and began reading, also keeping an eye on the few kids entering Kid's Cove. The play was fairly simple and easy to digest, most dialogue being short and sweet, with an occasional funny line that almost got a chuckle out of me. I could see out the corner of my eye that every once in a while Foxy would glance over at me expectantly, so I decided to put on a fake smile for her.

Yeah, it's bad to lie, but guess what? I'm doing it to be nice. Besides that, I actually thought it was pretty good for a children's show, However, I felt like some of it could be a little faster paced, as Foxy gave herself an assload dialogue at the climax of the story. One other thing I noticed though was that there was another person needed to be the villain, Captain Wretch.

There was a note to the side saying there needed to be someone to fill the role. And I knew just the right person to play the part.

Taking a pen I saw on a nearby table, I wrote down "Jett" next to Foxy's note and circled it. After making a few more edits to the script, I looked up to see everything was fine. No kids were fucking with Foxy's fur or clothing, and Foxy hadn't started glitching out or something. Seeing the kids get to leaving, I got up to show Foxy my edits.

"I see ya didn't like me ramblin'. I knew that it was too long. And yer friend Jett as Cap'n Wretch? Would he even accept?" Foxy asked.

"Honestly, probably not. But I could always try and get him to. As for the rest of it, fantastic work. I think it'll be perfect."

Foxy beamed at hearing this, her bushy white and pink tail wagging rapidly.

"Ye think so? Thank ya, Curtis! Your word means the world to me!"

Well, that was probably an exaggeration, but it still felt nice to hear. I could tell Foxy thought highly of me, even though I was the assistant. Thinking on that, I had to suppress a chuckle. Who'd have guessed the the Captain looked up to the sidekick? It was pretty fuckin' funny to me. She was like my boss, but I was her hero.

"No problem. Anyway, I'm gonna go see how this thing fits, so I'll be back in just a moment."

Heading out of Kid's Cove, I only made it a few feet before I bumped into Emily. She started to apologize, but then noticed the outfit.

"What's that all about?" she asked.

"Just an outfit for the show we'll be putting on. Gotta check how it fits first."

She just nodded her head before seeming to think about something.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you, but I hadn't gotten around to it. I'm going to just say it right now... I think your pretty cute. That being said..." she started, apparently nervous.

"I guess what I want to know is if you can come see a movie with me later?" she said, blushing lightly.

Well, that was something. I didn't really know her, but she seemed like she really wanted to. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Foxy just... standing and staring at us.

"Honestly, you don't really know me. Why would you want to go see a movie with me?" I asked, a bit suspicious.

She just laughed and socked me in the shoulder.

"I already told you it was because you're cute. Since you're cute, I want to get to know you better." she explained.

To me, it seemed kinda shallow to want to date somebody without knowing them first.

"Not a very good reason, to be completely honest."

"I know. But are you coming or not?" she asked, still bright red and fiddling with her necklace.

I was about to answer her when I heard something that shocked me.

"No! He won't go with you. He has... work to do. With _me_." Foxy said, almost hostile in her approach.

I was confused as to where she got that aggression from. Looking at Emily, I could see that she was very nervous, but now for a different reason. Turning back to Foxy, I frowned and tilted my head in confusion.

"Well, obviously we wouldn't go during work. We could go after, like later today-"

"I said _**no**." _Foxy practically growled, her ears back.

I narrowed my eyes and turned to Emily.

"I'll talk to you later. I need to have a word with Foxy here." I said, watching Emily nod her head and give a quick smile before walking away.

I went to Foxy and pulled her into Kid's Cove, making sure nobody was coming. Looking back at Foxy, I could see her looking a bit concerned, if not a bit guilty. Not meeting my eyes, she tried to defend her actions while nervously playing with the end of her tail.

"I'm not upset with ye, i-it's just-"

"What the _hell_ was that about? You should know _damn_ well that what I do outside of work is something _you aren't a factor in_. I don't _ever_ want you to pull some shit like that again, do you hear me?" I said in a whisper-shout through clenched teeth.

Foxy looked down shamefully, hiding her face from me.

"P-please don't swear at me. I-I just wanted-"

"No fucking excuses. You're not _ever_ gonna pull that shit with _me_ , goddammit." I said. At this point, I was past seething.

She was "breathing" shakily, still not meeting my eyes.

"Please. Please stop swearing at me. I don't like when ya yell-"

"I. Don't. Give. A. _Fuck._ I want to hear it from you that you'll NEVER fucking-"

"I SAID _STOP_. I'M _SORRY_! DO YA HEAR THAT? WHAT ELSE DO YA WANT FROM ME?" Foxy yelled, looking at me with eyes filled with...

Tears?

She could cry. And I made her cry. But oddly enough, I didn't really... feel bad about it. As much as I wanted to just forgive her like most would, I decided to let it sit for a moment, taking the time to check if anyone heard the yelling. Seeing nobody had overheard, I waited a moment longer, watching Foxy become even more upset before I finally answered her. Was I being a dick? Hell yeah I was. Nobody was gonna tell me what the hell to do outside of work.

"I want you to swear you'll never do that again. Outside of this job, nobody tells me what to do."

Foxy wiped her eyes and looked back down, practically whispering to me.

"I-I... promise I'll never... tell ye what to do... outside work. I-I know I'm just a... a stupid animatronic who doesn't have anythin' else, but I should have considered that ya have a life outside o' Freddy's." she said between sniffles.

Nodding my head, I reached out and lifted Foxy's chin until her eyes met mine.

"Don't start yourself a pity party. I'm not just gonna feel sorry for you." I started, seeing her start to cry again. "But I do forgive you."

I quickly wrapped Foxy in a long, genuine hug. I knew she mostly just wanted to be with her only human friend. She cried deeply into my shoulder, her claws digging into my back as she squeezed me hard, practically bawling at this point. I pat her back and kept telling her "It's alright", hearing her slow her cries until she spoke.

"I don't know what I was thinkin'. I-I just didn't want ya to leave me. Every moment ya spend with me is the best moment of my life. I haven't been around for very long, but so far you've been the kindest to me. And because of that, I lov-... I don't want to lose you."

I was taken aback a bit. It was obvious she thought well of me, but it seemed like I was her whole world. Wait, was she about to say that she loved me-

"Uh... bad time?"

Turning around, I saw Jett standing in the doorway holding a box of shitty Fazbear pizza. When I gave the 'so-so' motion, he just shrugged and sat down in a chair with the pepperoni and cheese-flavored cardboard that was Fazbear's pizza. I only knew what it tasted like because I had taken a break to eat the day before, and it was... food, I guess.

Foxy wiped her eyes and waved to Jett, trying to pretend like she hadn't been pretty much bawling just a moment before. Jett waved back and opened up the box of pizza, letting steam spill from the opening.

"Damn. Looks pretty good. Does it taste as good as it looks?" Jett asked foolishly.

Foxy and I looked at each other and started to giggle, which gained volume until we were doubled over laughing. It was a shitty children's pizzeria/arcade! Of course it was terrible! Who the hell _actually_ goes here for the pizza?

"Okay then. It sucks." Jett said while closing the lid, an unamused look on his face.

"Well, I wouldn't just let it go to waste. At least it tastes like _flavored_ cardboard." I said, walking over to grab a slice.

"Wait! Don't you need to see if the outfit fits?" Foxy asked.

"Nah, it can wait." I said, grabbing a slice of pizza.

As I suspected, it was terrible. But in a good way, like pizza rolls when you microwave them. Foxy and Jett grabbed their own slices, Foxy making sure not to make a mess on her clothing or fur. I sure as hell hoped she didn't stain her fur or clothes, because I did _not_ want a repeat of the previous night. Why the hell would Mr. Afton add those parts, or why would she even need them? What did they even look like?

Aaaaand that's a weird boner.

Shifting to hide my sudden, and _totally normal,_ problem, I remembered Captain Wretch.

"Hey, Jett. We need someone to fill a role in Foxy's play, and-"

"Nope."

Alright then, you fuck.

"I'll pay you."

"What do you need me to do?"

Easy. If Jett was anything, he was a greedy son of a bitch. And racist. And fuglier than a mofo.

Essentially, Jett just sucked.

"You'll be playing the role of the villain known as 'Captain Wretch.'" I said.

Jett frowned for a moment before speaking again.

"What, I couldn't be, like, a dashing hero?"

I just shook my head before replying.

"Nah, just a dashing villain."

Jett just laughed before nodding his head.

"As long as I'm dashing."

You never will be, Jett.

Finishing up reading the script, I tossed it over to Jett to let him read it. I have a pretty good memory, so I didn't have to read it many times to memorize it. Jett read through the script relatively quickly, occasionally raising an eyebrow or even laughing, which made Foxy's tail go wild. Once he reached the end, he looked up at Foxy and gave the most sincere smile I'd seen from him in months.

"It's pretty good for a kid show. I really like my character, and I'd be glad to help you guys out. Getting paid is cool too." Jett said, Foxy smiling wide.

"I'm so glad ye liked it! I worked quite hard on it, so it means a lot that the two of ya like it."

Well, it was officially the gayest thing I had ever heard Jett say, but I was glad that Foxy was happy. I wasn't entirely sure why, but seeing Foxy happy was very important to me, even though she was a robot. Maybe it was because she was my responsibility? Either way, I kinda felt like her guardian, which I was, in a way, so her well-being was going to be my focus until I could find a better job. Honestly though, I wasn't entirely positive I wouldn't look out for her even after I quit this job.

Seeing Foxy so proud gave me a swelling feeling of pride as well. It was as though I was watching a daughter do something amazing with her talents.

"I suppose I'll go see if this fits now." I said, gesturing to the outfit.

Receiving a nod, I headed out to the employee restrooms. They were like the regular ones, but for... employees. But there's no way you could have figured that out on your own, right?

I passed a few co-workers, including Emily, who I smiled and waved to, only receiving a light wave in return. I was reminded of what Foxy had done to ruin our plans, and I started to feel angry again. However, I suppressed those feelings. I knew that Foxy didn't have much, so it made sense that I was the best thing she had. Hey, what can I say? I'm pretty damn fantastic. At least that's what I like to believe.

Entering the restroom, I immediately went to one of the stalls to change. The main show would be over soon, so many little shitheads would be coming to see Foxy. I quickly got changed and saw that I was, in fact, very comfortable in this outfit. It was simple, consisting of a pair of black pants, a white shirt, and a pirate's coat. Stepping out of the stall, I looked at myself int he mirror and saw a handsome young man looking back at me...

As well as something else. I started to feel cold again, looking closer at the thing in the mirror. It stayed in the corner of my vision, a black and cloudy figure darting across my line of sight. I turned around rapidly, gripping the pistol in my waistband and saw...

Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.

That's what I get for not taking my pills. Yeah, you heard that right. I'm a fuckin' nutjob that has a history of hallucinating. I know that what I just saw probably wasn't real, but sometimes I just couldn't tell. Like, I knew it wasn't real, but I felt like it might be, you know? It was only visual hallucinations, so that creepy voice was definitely real.

I think.

Realizing I was just staring at an empty corner with a pistol handle in my grip, I turned back around and splashed water in my face before going to change back into my regular attire. I exited the stall and headed back to Kid's Cove to see Foxy and Jett had finished off the pizza without me. Oh well. It sucked anyway.

"It fits really well. Almost a perfect fit, in fact." I said, seeing children starting to come down the hall toward Kid's Cove.

Jett saw this as well and decided he would be better off _away_ from the children, so he grabbed the empty pizza box and headed out, giving a quick wave before going past the group of children. I entered Kid's Cove to stand next to Foxy, helping her greet the children as they came to hear her stories. Once they were all settled, Foxy introduced herself to the new faces, motioning for me to do the same.

"Ahoy, crew! I'm Curtis the Scoundrel, Foxy's first mate and most trusted companion!" I said, internally cringing at how absolutely cheesy it was.

No matter how I felt, I still kept a smile on my face and spoke in my friendliest voice. I was just glad to see Foxy happy. Like I said earlier, I felt proud of how good she was at her job. Obviously, she was made for it, but she went above and beyond with it. I wouldn't say I necessarily _hate_ children, but I didn't exactly like them. Yet, seeing the joy they felt because of Foxy was infectious, and it was the greatest feeling in the world to see them so happy and enthralled by the tales Foxy wove. Stories of adventure, action, and good morals. Morals I wish could have been instilled in me.

Foxy made it clear to the children that they could be anybody they wanted, whether it be an astronaut or a captain of the sea like her, even though she didn't say it outright. She just... gave that impression. Anything the kids would ask or talk about, she would respond in a way that said that as long as they put their heart into it, they could achieve any goal. That was the moral of most of her stories. Through even the worst situations, self-confidence and effort could seize the day.

She let them know they didn't have to be victims of circumstance. They didn't have to be stuck with what destiny gave them. They didn't have to be like me. And I hoped that they never, ever would be. I was a terrible person. I've _killed_ people, just to go right fucking back to entertaining children, like some unempathetic serial killer or something. If I could help it, I would try to keep anyone I could from being anything like me.

Was I looking too deep into a story about stolen treasure? Yeah, probably. Actually, definitely. Yet, I couldn't help but let a single tear fall down my cheek. It went unnoticed by the children, but Foxy spotted it right before I wiped it from my face with haste. Her smile wavered a bit, but she stayed joyful as she wrapped up the last absolutely-true-don't-ever-fucking-doubt-it story, explaining how we narrowly avoided crashing on a rocky beach.

"With a quick yank on the wheel of the ship, we rode the wave out of the way of the jagged rocks, setting course for our home. And do ye remember what we did with that undead captain's ship, first mate?" Foxy said, giving a quick wink in my direction as a signal for me to speak.

"Why, of course I do! I remember _exactly_ how good it felt to fire that cannonball into the side of that rickety old ship!" I said with a laugh.

Foxy gave a quick laugh as well, patting me on the back.

"And what a shot it was! Ye never let me down, ya scoundrel!"

"I aim to please." I stated simply.

We wrapped up the tale, and the children said their goodbyes, giving Foxy hugs and handing over the drawings they made while Foxy told her stories. Taking them from Foxy, I went to hang them up with the rest of the pictures as Foxy spoke softly to me.

"I saw ye crying earlier. Are ya... are ya okay?" Foxy said, meeting my eyes with her own golden orbs.

I just smiled and nodded. It really wasn't a big deal, so she shouldn't have to worry about what I was thinking.

"Somehow, I jus' don't believe that. What's the matter?"

She just _had_ to be good at telling when I was lying.

"Really. It's nothing. I was just thinking optimistically about the kids' futures and how they don't have to be... like me." I admitted, much to Foxy's apparent shock.

"And why would that _possibly_ be a bad thing?" Foxy practically demanded.

Damn. I wasn't going to let her know the full truth. If I ever wanted her to respect me, or if I wanted to stay out of prison forever, then I would have to tell a half-truth.

"I've made too many mistakes in my life, and I've always had it hard. I don't want that for them, so even thinking about it just..." I trailed off.

Foxy just nodded her head in understanding, wrapping me in a tender hug. I was starting to grow used to the hugs, and I actually kinda liked them. Foxy was soft, warm, gentle, and incredibly reassuring in almost every way. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to really look forward to Foxy's hugs. I returned the kind gesture, whispering a soft 'thank you' as she patted me on the back before speaking.

"It's alright. We all make mistakes. Even in the little amount of time I've been active, I've made mistakes, like... when I tried to keep ye from that nice girl, just so ya could stay with _me_. I don't know how, but I've started to develop bad traits, like jealousy." Foxy explained as I pet the back of her head slowly.

"Being with you is the best thing I can do. Ye give me so much joy, just by being so kind to me. Ya look after me, and go above an' beyond to make me happy. For that, I can't help but feel... empty without you."

Yeah, I'm pretty damn fantastic, aren't I? But in all honesty, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and I couldn't help but feel loved. It had been a long time since I felt that feeling. The closest thing I had felt like that in recent years was how I felt around Jett, but it wasn't the same thing by miles. I knew I was his best friend, but I didn't feel "loved", mostly 'cuz we don't do that gay shit. Not that there's anything... _wrong_ with that, but it was just different.

"You know, that means a whole lot to me, Foxy. Believe me when I say that I will do anything I possibly can to make your life better." I swore.

To my surprise, Foxy looked at me both surprised and confused.

"Me... me life? Ya consider me to be... alive? I... Thank you, Curtis." Foxy said, squeezing me tighter.

Alright then, you weirdo. But then, I thought about it for a moment. She has probably gone her entire, though very short, life being reminded she was just a machine, destined for one thing and one thing alone, controlled by a corporation until they have no use for her.

That thought made me freeze. Eventually, they _would_ have no use for her. Then what would happen to her? Would she be thrown away like garbage? Recycled? Left to rot? The thoughts and images actually made me feel sick. She was so kind, even if she was starting to become a very jealous person. It would be one of the worst feelings in the world to find out she had been disposed of. If I was able to, I would try to prevent that from ever happening.

"Of course I do, Foxy. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You're my friend, and I _know_ that you are a living being to me." I explained.

Foxy just smiled as her tail wagged, holding on for just a moment longer. Her warm fur was so soft and comfortable, like a furry heated blanket. Then, she finally let go of me and sat down on the floor, staring at her knees. I joined her and put my arm around her shoulder, receiving a smile as well as a tail wagging and hitting me in the back. Usually I would be annoyed, but I just didn't really care too much. It was kinda cute.

Once again, I mean in the "fluffy dog" kinda cute. Mostly. I mean, she still has, like... tits and stuff, so...

Actually, pretend I never said that.

"Thanks for everything ye do, Curtis. I'm glad I got a good person like ye to be me first mate."

Once again, not a good person. Not by a fucking long shot. But she didn't have to know about what I've done. She doesn't have to know about who I've killed.

"Anytime. It makes me happy to see _you_ happy. So, while we wait for the next show to end, what should we do?" I asked.

Foxy smiled and reached into a box nearby and pulled out...

A deck of playing cards?

"I found 'em layin' around in the break room, so I decided to... borrow it for a while."

"Foxy, you're a pirate. Just admit you stole it."

Foxy huffed, seemingly offended.

"I'm and honorable pirate. I absolutely did not steal, and I will return it."

"Just a joke, Foxy. Don't get your panties in a twist."

This made Foxy very flustered, as she started to stutter and not meet my eyes.

"I-I don't have... I know that... I'm not even _wearing_ panties!" Foxy said a little too loudly.

Well that's... good to know.

"Well... how about we just get to playing?" I suggested, ignoring her statement.

Foxy just nodded and pulled out the deck, shuffling it.

"I only know Go Fish, so I s'pose that's what we'll be playing." Foxy said.

"You know, I could... _teach_ you a different game, if you want." I offered. I didn't wanna be stuck playin' stupid-ass Go Fish-

"No thanks. I really like Go Fish."

Fuck. Oh well. Who was I to order around my Captain? She passed out the cards, giving me seven as well as giving herself seven. It started off simple, as the game does, with the exchanges of "Do you have...?", but it didn't take long before it got pretty intense.

"Go fish, lad."

"Mother _fucker!"_ I whisper-shouted as I drew a three.

At the moment, I was winning, as I had three more books than she did, but she seemed to be stepping up her game big time.

"Don't swear, matey." Foxy warned, waving a finger at me.

"Too fuckin' bad. I'm _pissed."_

And boy was I. I hated losing more than anything else. Call it pride, or just a sense of extreme entitlement mixed with a whole ass-load of narcissism mixed into a vat full of other shit, like hallucinations that made me technically "insane". Hey, it's not like I ever said I was perfect. I also know I sound like one of those people who try to be special just by saying they are crazy, but honestly, what else would you call me when I say I hallucinate?

Way to get off track, Curtis.

"I mean it. What if one o' the kiddos hears ya? Then what will we do?"

I thought about it for a moment and realized she was right. Probably a bad idea to swear so much in a family establishment. However, I wasn't going to admit that. Instead, I was going to give the most bullshit answer I possibly could give.

"Foxy, my Captain, we'll just have to ride off into the sunset, far away from the people who hold us down. We'll escape the oppressive clutches of this place, free to live as we wish. As free as we could ever be." I said dramatically, holding my hand out to an imaginary sunset.

While I thought it was pretty goofy, Foxy just smiled warmly at me, resting her head in her hands as she spoke to me softly.

"Curtis... please don't ever change." she said with a light giggle.

Foxy leaned in, wrapping me in yet _another_ hug, though this one was much tighter than usual. I returned the tight hug, smiling to myself as I considered my position. I may have been a poor criminal kid, but I sure as hell had a nice job, and great friends. I had only known Foxy for a few days, but she was already on of my best friends.

Then, she did something unexpected that I would never forget. I felt her head move, her hot artificial breath blowing on my face, and she leaned her head in closer. Before I knew what was happening, I felt a pair of warm, wet lips on my cheek, kissing my face slowly. It wasn't like the peck on the cheek she gave me before. No, this had passion behind every second of it.

To put it lightly, I was shocked. And apparently, so was Foxy.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't think... I just... It felt right!" she explained as she pulled away from me, not looking me in the eye.

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't mad at her. Not by a long shot. But it did make some things more clear to me. It made sense why she was so worried about seeing me leave, and shy she was so happy around me. It was official:

Foxy loved me.

To me, that was pretty unusual. But I didn't... disapprove of it. I knew how strange it was, and I didn't exactly love Foxy. However, I _did_ care about Foxy quite a bit. That being said, in a way, I kinda did love her, but more as family. Looking at Foxy, I could tell she was looking for a response, but I was just staring like a fucking retard.

"Foxy... it's perfectly fine. I don't think any less of you. In fact, I'm incredibly flattered that a renowned Captain such as yourself would feel like that about me." I said with a small laugh, trying not to make it sound like I was mocking her.

She just smiled, but seemed to be thinking about something.

"Thank ye, Curtis. I suppose there's no point in hidin' how I feel. Curtis... My First Mate and best friend... I loved ya since day one. You've treated me with such kindness, and treated me like a person rather than property. I may not have been active long, but I know you're the one I want." Foxy stated, still not meeting my eyes.

"But I have a question for ye."

Oh no.

"Curtis... do you..."

Please... don't make me do this...

"Do you... love me too?"

I wanted to just disappear from the face of the planet. If I could make myself just disintegrate, I would have done it just then. I _did_ care about Foxy. She was sweet, clever, and fun. I didn't need to know her long to admit that. But... she was a fucking _fox robot_ for God's sake! And I was just a sin away from being a monster. It would never work, and I wasn't even sure I could ever feel attracted to her.

I just moved back over to Foxy and pulled her close, keeping tears from spilling. Hey, it was an emotional moment, and I felt like a I was in the wrong. I held her tight, making sure she could physically feel how much I cared. Eventually, I forced myself to speak.

"Foxy... You're a sweet, clever, fun woman. I wouldn't choose another person to work with. You're what I look forward to the most in my day. You make me so, _so_ happy." I said, Foxy gripping me tighter, almost as if she knew what was coming.

"But Foxy," I started, feeling her claws start to dig into me, "I don't think... I don't think it could work out."

Foxy started to tremble lightly before speaking.

"W-well obviously it wouldn't work right now, but ye can still... love me, right?"

This was the heartbreaker for both of us.

"Foxy... What I mean to say is... No. I don't love you in that way. But-"

I didn't get to finish before Foxy just let go of me, stumbling back and sitting down, tears ready to fall.

"I knew it. I knew that I was just an unlovable freak. I don't know why I even asked." she said, voice cracking as tears fell.

I went to embrace her again, but she just pulled away.

"No. I-I want to be alone for a moment."

"Foxy, I may not love you right now, but-"

"Leave me, Curtis." she said, head on her knees.

I put my hand on her shoulder, just to have it pushed off. Not having any of that, I put my hand on her shoulder and gripped it.

"I may not love you now, but maybe if we gave it time, I could feel something for you. I just can't love someone so quickly." I lied through my teeth.

It felt bad to make Foxy hurt, but lying to her somehow felt worse.

"R-really?"

"Absolutely."

Foxy smiled wide, not catching me in a lie again. Instead, she just gave me another hug and quick kiss on the cheek. I smiled back at her when she did, but then my blood went cold again. My vision darkened around the edges, and everything became more red.

To my shock, the world morphed around me. Foxy began to change. Her fur darkened, her body becoming spattered with dirt and... blood? She became twisted, broken, _mangled._ The area around me began to darken, blood pooling around where I sat. In my hand was...

 _My gun..._

Foxy grabbed a hold of me and shook me, her voice a garbled static as the other animatronics appeared, their eyes as soulless as machines were expected to be, all the joy stripped from their eyes, only showing artificial smiles. Behind me, I saw the nightmare-inducing old animatronics. They sat on the wall behind me, blood pouring rapidly from them.

Foxy continued to shake me wildly. The other animatronics came closer, reaching for me.

Suddenly, the old animatronics began to rise. Not like they were standing up, but they rose unnaturally, as if being... controlled. Behind them stood a group of white apparitions about the size of children. Behind _them_ stood... that fucking puppet. Everyone was looking at me. I saw blood still pooling, my gun still spattered with blood. It was as if...

I was a murderer.

It was as if I had killed once again. As if for a second time, innocent blood was on my hands.

My vision began to darken. I felt a surge of rage. I lifted my gun and-

"Curtis? Curtis!"

I snapped out of my hallucination. Nothing was in my hands. The only ones in the room were Foxy and I. And most importantly, I wasn't the cause of another killing.

"What's the matter, Foxy?" I asked, pretending nothing had happened. She was back to normal, no longer twisted and broken horribly.

"Oh, thank the seas you're okay! You blacked out, mumbling incoherently. I'm sorry if I made ya do that! I-"

"Foxy, it's fine. Sometimes that just happens." I lied again. It wasn't fine, and that had never happened before.

Besides that, something about it felt too...

Real.

"Are ye sure? If not, I can-"

"Foxy. It's fine." I insisted.

Obviously, I really wasn't but I couldn't let her get worried. That would be quite the issue. Instead, I focused on the main issue at hand, leaving the hallucination for figuring out later.

"Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I do care about you Foxy. I wouldn't doubt that there's a good chance I might love you back soon. But until then, just know you're one of my best friends, and I would risk my neck any day for you." I promised.

Foxy seemed pleased at this, so she just nodded before speaking.

"Thank ye, Curtis. But... can I give ya one final kiss?" she asked.

I thought it was pretty weird, but I decided there was no harm. But, I decided that I should probably just give her a quick reminder I cared. Before she got her answer, I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her warm lips. It was strange, and didn't feel like how a human's lips did, but, though I would never admit it, it was actually pretty pleasant.

Foxy smiled wider than I had ever seen her smile and just played with her tail. Then, I heard someone behind me. The last person I wanted to see that.

"So... are you guys, like, a thing now? Not that there's anything... well kinda but you know what I mean." Jett said, holding three sodas in his hands.

"No, Jett, we aren't." I said.

"Yet!"

Foxy, sometimes you should shut the hell up.

"...Right. Anyway, Trenton gave me these sodas for free, so I'ma share 'em with you guys."

Well, he took that relatively well.

"Thanks Jett. Hey, what time is it?"

"Almost closing time. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to wait around a little."

We just kinda sat around and drank soda, playin' Go Fish again, but with Jett this time. Turns out, Jett is really fucking good at Go Fish. Eventually though, it actually became closing time, and Jett had to leave.

"Actually, ye can stay a bit if ya like. Ye can hide in here if you want to stick around." Foxy suggested.

Jett thought it over, thinking hard about it.

"Sure. My parents don't care what I do, so I'll just stay here for a while."

"Or for the night." I said.

Jett laughed for but a second until he saw I was serious.

"Wait, you can do that? I can, like, fuck around in here with these robots and not have to leave? Hell yeah!" Jett said.

"Hey dumb-ass. You have to be quiet about it." I reminded him.

Foxy just laughed as Jett flipped me off. However, he did keep his voice down. Suddenly, he looked like he remembered something.

"Curt, did you take your pills? I didn't see you come home last night so..."

Wow. He seemed like he gave a shit for once.

"Nope. I probably need to, 'cuz... I'm starting to have 'episodes'." I whispered, not letting Foxy hear me.

Jett just nodded and reached in his fanny pack he had around his waist. Fortunately, he didn't wear it like a dork by keeping it near his crotch. To my surprise, he pulled out a pill bottle that had my meds in it.

"Knew you would need 'em so..." he whispered and handed them over as he went to distract Foxy while I took my pills.

I took them quickly, washing them down with soda and turning to finish Go Fish. Currently, I was in dead last. We played for a few more hours, then decided to quit when the last employee left. That is, except for one. I headed to the night guard's office to hear what sounded like a message. Sitting in the chair was also someone other than Scott. He looked up to see me and immediately tensed up.

"H-hey! You're not supposed to be here!"

"Listen, pal, I don't really care. We've been doing this plenty, and we don't cause any trouble, so deal with it... uh..."

"Jeremy. Jeremy Fitzgerald."

"Right. Now if you would, chill."

Suddenly, I remembered something. Rushing to the Parts and Services room, I saw the door slightly cracked. Picking up the pace, I heard a metallic scraping behind the door. With one final push, I shut the door and locked it. I wasn't 'bout to deal with that shit.

"Hey there, Curtis! Good to see you here again!" I heard from behind.

Turning around, I saw it was Freddy and the others.

"Hey y'all. What are you guys doin'?" I asked.

"Why, just checking on our favorite employee!" Bonnie said enthusiastically.

I just nodded, not really paying much attention as I watched Jett peek out of Kid's Cove, see Bonnie, and dart back in, making me laugh. Bonnie saw where I was looking and went into Kid's Cove and yelled out enthusiastically again.

"Jett! How are ya, pal?"

"Oh, son-of-a... I'm alright, Bonnie." Jett said with not a single drop of joy.

"Great! Ooooh, cards! Wanna pl-"

"No."

I laughed again, joined by both Chica and Freddy. They talked to me about their day just for a short while. We then went our separate ways as I decided to finally sleep. I headed to Kid's Cove and laid next to where Jett was sitting, followed by Foxy, who laid next to me.

"You sure you ain't a thing?"

Nodding, I slowly drifted to sleep as Foxy wrapped her arms around me. I already knew what Jett was thinking.

 _"Ha! You fuckin' furry!"_

Ignoring him, I fell asleep, my nightmares not even happening since I took medication.

My slumber was peaceful.

Suddenly, however, I woke up to Jett shaking me. It was right before opening time, and Jeremy had left. Jett seemed almost afraid, so naturally I asked him what was up.

"Curtis... Foxy's busy right now, so I gotta tell you quick. I went outside for a smoke and saw something. It's the cops. They found the bodies. And I heard them say they found Dexter's fingerprints and DNA."

Oh _fuck._

* * *

 _Howdy. Lord Jorgey here. I'm so, so sorry this lackluster chapter took so long. I got busy with work and all, and it kept me from writing. To all of you expecting more, I'm sorry, but I did try to add some interesting knew factors to our protagonist. By some, I mean a bunch. Anyway, sorry to disappoint if I did. I kinda disappointed myself, honestly, but here it is. Any questions or concerns? Let me know! See you next time!_


	4. A Bit o' Blood

My body couldn't stop shaking. How? How in the ever-loving fuck did this happen? The animatronics seemed to have gone back to their standby mode, rendering them essentially dead. Good. That allows me to see what the hell we got ourselves into. I wasn't sure what Foxy was busy with, but I didn't really care. She wasn't important at this point. What were we going to do? If they find out it was us, then they'll find out about...

No, they weren't going to find out. No way in hell. Our luck couldn't _possibly_ be that horrible.

I could see the police through the building's glass doors. And there were a bunch of them. At least eight of them, plus a few detectives, I think. Turning to Jett, I could see the fear in his eyes. We both knew what this meant if they linked it to us as well. Dexter was fucked, and so were we if things went south fast enough. Well, more so than it already had.

"Jett, did you tell Dexter? Did you call him?"

Jett nodded as we went to push open the doors. We had about an hour until opening time, which was plenty of time to get Dexter some help. Fortunately, the cops didn't spot us. If they did, I'd have a lot of explaining to do, especially with my gun. Once we were out of the cops' line of sight, we broke into a sprint. I put my ID and hat away as we rushed toward Dexter's home. I bolted up the stairs to his apartment, hammering on the door. I heard the locks on the other side unlock before the door swung open, revealing Dexter holding a 12 gauge shotgun.

"Get inside. Hurry."

I wasn't about to fuckin' argue. Jett and I hurried inside, seeing the filthy interior of Dexter's home. Scattered about were guns of all kinds, most purchased or taken illegally. Bullets lay across every surface, magazines accompanying some of the piles. I knew Dexter had a lot of guns, so this was no surprise to me. What _was_ a surprise was how haphazardly they were lain about. Dexter loved his guns like children, and would normally kill you for looking at one wrong. Right now, it was obvious that he was stressed out of his mind.

"I can't believe this. I can't fucking believe this! Why me? I didn't even start this shit!"

"Well you still were part of it! We're all fucked, man!" Jett panicked.

I shook my head, not throwing in my own panicked thoughts. Instead, I looked over one of Dexter's guns. What was he planning? If he was thinking of having a shootout with the cops, he was fucking insane. Well, he already kinda was, but even more than usual.

"Dex, I gotta say that whatever you're planning is fucking stupid. Come on, dude. We'll get you out of here. I'm almost certain Diane would let you stay for a while."

Dexter thought for a second, considering his options.

"Well... that could work. How are you so calm right now, though?"

"I'm not. But I have to keep the appearance of calm or else I'll fucking puke."

"That doesn't help, Curtis."

I just shrugged. What did he want me to do? Lie to him? Actually, that's probably _exactly_ what he wanted. Looking over the AK-47 I had been eyeing before, I thought about taking it with us. I already had my own as a gift from Dexter, but his was clearly much nicer. However, I left it alone, as I'm certain he would cut my hands off if I touched it.

"I know, but you asked. Come on. Let's get out of here."

Dexter nodded and went to grab his gun when Jett stopped him.

"What the fuck are you doing? We can't just go out there carrying fucking rifles!"

Dexter furrowed his brow at Jett, clearly not happy. It was a look I have come to not look forward too.

"Yeah? Well that sure means a whole fucking lot from the dickheads that killed the fuckers in the first place! Don't you ever tell _me_ what the fuck to do."

Jett frowned heavily, clenching his fists.

"Don't be fucking stupid, Dexter. We can't afford to stand out, and it's kinda hard to look past some dude carrying an AK around town."

"Like you know anything, you skinhead douche."

Jett took in a deep breath before turning to me, all the while I fiddled with a loose bullet.

"Curtis, help me get this cock-smoker out of here before I whip his ass."

"Before you _what?_ "

I was going to have to stop this fight before it started.

"Both of you shut the fuck up! Listen, we don't have a lot of time, so we gotta get you out of here, Dexter. Come on."

I didn't waste any time heading out the door, both of the angry guys following after me. We ran down the stairs, Dexter having settled for a pistol instead of an AK. Diane's house was not far, so we sprinted to her house, rushing across the street and barely avoiding getting hit by a truck. Just a block more and we would be where we needed to be.

I kicked myself into gear and sprinted faster with the others right behind me. But as I approached the quiet, empty street corner, I saw someone exit the alley to our left. I couldn't see their face as I ran, but I skidded to a halt when I saw their hand leave their coat pocket, gun in hand. Naturally, I reached for my own pistol. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as I took aim. I fired, but it was too late. They had already fired.

As they hit the concrete, I frantically felt around for any wounds, looking at my hands to see no blood. He missed! Yes! Suck my fucking cock you motherfu-

Suddenly, a thumping sound from behind me caught my attention.

Oh no. Oh god no.

Turning around, my fears were realized as I saw Dexter clutching below his chest, his eyes wide with fear. Jett had caught him in his arms, putting his hand over the wound to put pressure on it. Dexter wasn't coughing up blood, so that was good, but I didn't know if anything vital was hit. As Jett panicked while tending to a bleeding Dexter, I didn't just feel worried for Dexter's safety. I was fucking pissed.

I turned back around toward the fucker that shot him, seeing him clutching his gut in agony. I walked over to the kid, a look of pure rage across my face. He tried to back away, but I stomped my foot onto his wound, stopping him in his tracks and making him cry out. I pointed my gun at his head, watching tears roll down his face. Seeing his gun to his side, I picked it up and tossed it to the side. Looking back, I could see Jett had propped Dexter up and had wrapped his now-torn shirt around his wound as a makeshift bandage. Of course, this allowed the world to see his Aryan Brotherhood tattoos. The kid under my foot saw the tattoos and his eyes widened.

"I-I knew it. It was... y'all that killed 'em." he said with pain in his voice.

Kicking him in his bullet wound, I looked him in the eyes and spoke to him with rage in my voice.

"What, you just guessed that it was us? You'd have shot someone innocent without knowing first?"

Jett spoke up, seething.

"Of course this fucking thug did! That's how they all are, and you fucking know it. Curtis, I don't care if the cops are looking for us right now. Before someone calls the police, I want you to pop this nigge-"

"Jett, shut up for a second." I shouted, looking back at the kid.

"You... call _us_ thugs, but you... kill my friends and my brother because they're... black. _You're_ the ones... goin' to hell. At least... I could send one of you there early." he said with a low voice. He was wrong. That wasn't _ever_ why we killed anyone. Though Jett would argue.

"As if we didn't already know that. Who are you?" I asked him.

He coughed up blood, spitting to his left before answering me.

"Carson Williams. That... That was my brother you... killed the other day." he said, crying heavily. I kinda felt bad, seeing that he was probably about fifteen.

Nodding, I started to squeeze the trigger.

"Sorry about that, kid."

 _ **BANG!**_

I didn't look at him, just picking up the bullet casings and turning to pick up Dexter. Diane's place was close, so we quickly reached her home to see her exit her house. She spotted Dexter limp in our arms and gasped, running back inside before coming back out with car keys.

"I don't know what happened, but we gotta get him to the hospital! Hurry the fuck up!" she shouted, getting in her car and tossing a shirt from the back to Jett.

We didn't take much time getting in, continually putting pressure on Dexter's wound. Diane slammed on the pedal and sped toward the hospital, practically hyperventilating.

"What the hell happened? How did this happen?" she demanded.

"Some fucker shot him for money. We had to smoke him after he shot Dexter." Jett lied.

She nodded, whispering "Oh god" under her breath the whole way to the hospital. Once we reached the hospital, Jett jumped out with Dexter and rushed him in, Diane too shocked to move. Before Jett entered the building, he turned to me and shouted.

"I've got him! Get to work."

I wanted to protest, but I remembered that work started in just a few minutes. Nodding, Diane took off, heading to Freddy's. I'm glad she already knew where it was, because in that moment it was hard for me to think. I wasn't sure I would be able to give directions. For some reason, the adrenaline I felt was so strange. I wasn't sure how to describe it, but it wasn't something right. It felt very, _very_ wrong.

I didn't get much more time to think on it, as we pulled up to Freddy's, and I could see Emily walking with "Mr. Fazbear" into the building. Getting professional, I put on my hat and ID before exiting the car, thanking Diane for driving me. I headed inside the building and caught up to the manager and Emily.

"Hey you guys. Any plans for today, Mr. Fazbear?"

The portly man shook his head, but gave me a wide smile that I still didn't know if it was fake or not.

"Not anything in particular, but I'm glad you asked. It shows that you like to be prepared. I like employees that stay prepared."

Well, I certainly felt like my ass had been thoroughly kissed.

"Well, I certainly like to be." I said before turning to Emily. "And sorry about yesterday. I got it sorted out, so if you'd still like to go, I'm willing."

She smiled widely at me, nodding her head while she played with her long blonde hair.

"Of course! I don't know what I want to see yet, but... we'll figure it out later, right?"

"Yeah. What time do you want to go?"

She though about it for a moment, but quickly figured it out.

"Maybe not tonight, but tomorrow right after work?"

If Foxy didn't make me do something else after work tomorrow, then I couldn't think of why not.

"Sure thing. See you then!" I said, heading to Kid's Cove as I waved goodbye to her, receiving a wave back.

Approaching Kid's Cove, I spotted Foxy looking through the script for her play. When she spotted me, her tail immediately began to go wild, her eyes lighting up as well. She rapidly closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around me while I maneuvered myself to where she couldn't feel my pistol.

"I was wonderin' where ye were, Curtis! Jus' where did you go?"

I quickly thought up a believable lie.

"Oh, you know how I need to, like, eat and stuff? Yeah, I went to get breakfast."

I wasn't sure if she'd catch me in the lie as she had a habit of doing, but my worries were put to ease as she gave a small "oh" and let go of me. She then turned around and bent over to pick up the script, which she had dropped. As she was bent over, I noticed a decent sized tear in her pants on her upper right leg, right below the butt. Hey, I noticed by accident, okay? When she stood back up, she looked at me with eagerness in her eyes.

"Well, today I thought that maybe we could do the play! What do ya think?"

Yeah, there was one big problem with that.

"Jett's actually in the hospital looking over a friend today. I don't think he'll be able to. Depending on how things go, I also might need to take a day off for him."

Foxy immediately dropped her smile, replacing her happy look with an incredibly sad one.

"Oh my... I'm so sorry. What happened, if I might ask?"

"Sorry, Foxy. I don't feel like talking about it."

She nodded her head, understanding how I felt. Or so I think. I dunno. I can't read minds.

"Well what're we gonna do instead?" Foxy asked.

I wasn't entirely sure, but I figured that we could start with fixing the rip in her pants.

"Probably just the usual show. But before that, I should let you know that you have a rip in your pants that should be fixed up."

Foxy looked surprised, turning to look for the rip. To me, it looked kinda exaggerated how she was looking for it, but then again, she was an animatronic fox pirate woman, so who knows what's normal for her.

"Well we can't have that, can we, Curtis?"

Shaking my head, I searched around for some kind of sewing materials before Foxy tapped me on the shoulder, making me turn to see that she had a sewing kit already. How odd. Mentally shrugging, I took the kit while Foxy laid down, giving me easy access to the rip. I opened up the kit to see that none of the materials had been used or even opened. To me, it looked pretty much brand new.

But that wasn't important. I grabbed the needle and thread and got into a comfortable position to get the job done, as the job would likely take a while considering the size of the tear. Before I even got started, Foxy was almost unnoticeably wiggling about. I assumed that this was because of the fact that she was uncomfortable with this. Putting the thread through the eye of the needle, I got to work on the tear. I got a hold of the edge of the torn material and put the needle through. I didn't really know how to sew that well, but I could still kinda do it.

Foxy shifted again, making it a little harder to actually sew. I couldn't understand just why she kept moving.

"Foxy, please stop moving. I can't get this done any faster if you keep on moving."

She looked back at me, giving a sheepish smile.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Yeah, it's fine."

I continued to sew the tear up, but the needle got stuck somehow. To yank it free, I pressed my hand on the pants' torn spot, using my other hand to yank the needle through. As I did, however, Foxy gave a small gasp. Confused, I looked down before yanking my own hand back in disgust.

I was groping her butt. My hand... was grabbing her ass.

"Sorry 'bout that. I, uh, was trying to get the needle unstuck."

Foxy nodded, turning her head back around as I continued to pull the needle, placing my hand back in place. While I didn't want to keep groping her, I had to get the job done. Why did it seem like I was always doing something like this? I just couldn't catch a break.

As I pulled, Foxy wiggled some more. Not like I had _just_ asked her to stop. After a few moments of tugging, the needle came loose, allowing me to finish. Once I was done, I had to ask the ever important question.

"Now, how did that happen?"

Foxy was caught off guard by the question, freezing for a moment before turning to me with a smile.

"Oh, they jus' got caught on somethin'."

I didn't really believe that.

"Don't lie to me."

She got a defensive look on her face, clearly upset at the implication.

"You're suggestin' that I'm lyin'? I have no reason to, so why'd ya even say somethin' like that?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

She huffed and turned around, her arms crossed. I had somehow struck a nerve with her, and she was obviously upset. Really, it was her fault, right? I mean, if she's lying then she's lying. No other way to put it. I wasn't just being paranoid. Or was I?

"Foxy... I'm sorry. You're right. I should have believed you. No reason for me not to."

I didn't really believe that, but I had to cheer her up somehow. Otherwise, she wasn't going to want to perform with me. Not that I... _liked_ to perform in Foxy's show, but... I also kinda did.

When she heard my apology, she let out a small sigh and smiled, turning back around to face me.

"I forgive ya. I understand not bein' completely trusting, so there's no hard feelings."

There better not be any.

"Great. Now, I think we're open, so get ready for any kids that show up."

She nodded once again, but noticed something and widened her eyes in surprise.

"Curtis... w-what's tha' on yer shoes? I-Is... is that _blood_?"

Oh shit. Oh fucking _shit_. Why, oh why did I not think to wash my shoes off? What excuse could I even give? There's no way I could... Wait a minute. Yes! My saving grace!

"Well, remember how I said my friend was in the hospital?"

Foxy's eyes widened even more.

"Yeah. A terrible accident happened while I was nearby. And..." I trailed off, pretending to get all choked up.

Foxy wrapped her arms around me, her breathing unsteady.

"Poor thing! I hope they're alright. I'm sorry fer remindin' ya about it."

"It's alright Foxy. I'm sure they'll recover." I lied.

I doubted Dexter would recover. Really, I should have been with him instead of at work right now, but here I was. However, Foxy relaxed upon hearing the lie seemingly not catching that it was, in fact, total bullshit. As soon as she released me from her hug, I heard movement behind me. Turning around, I saw that it was a child and their parents. The little girl was a familiar face, as she had been to Kid's Cove before. I had yet to meet her parents though. Searching through my memory for her name, I suddenly remembered.

"Welcome back, Susie! Ready to hear another one of Foxy's tales?" I asked excitedly, my excitement rubbing off on the girl.

"Yep! Did you like my drawing?" she asked.

If I recalled, hers was a simple drawing of all of us on a boat with some kind of chest full of treasure.

"Of course we did! I didn't expect to have a professional artist in our crew!"

The girl giggled upon hearing that, and it honestly felt pretty nice. I looked up at the parents to see them smiling, the father approaching me while Foxy kept the daughter occupied.

"Thanks for making our little girl happy. She just wouldn't stop begging us to come back so she could see 'Captain Foxy and Curtis the Scoundrel.' Something tells me you're Curtis?" he joked.

"That would be correct. Believe me when I say that I love this job. If the kids are happy, I'm happy. So rest assured you child is in good hands."

The father nodded, his smile not fading a single bit.

"I don't doubt it. You seem like a good guy. And boy are these robots getting to be realistic! They were nowhere near this good when I was a kid." the father said quietly, obviously worried about his daughter hearing about Foxy being a robot. Having the illusion broken would be just terrible.

"Yeah, they sure are. You're welcome to stick around here if you'd like. Otherwise, I'm sure that you'll enjoy one of our many other options for entertainment."

The parents both looked at each other, seemingly coming to a telepathic agreement before the father looked back at me and shook my hand enthusiastically.

"Well, we'll be somewhere else for just a little while, but we'll be back in no time. Until then, I'm sure you'll show our daughter a good time. See you later, Curtis."

It felt weird for a customer to call me by my name, rather than "Employee guy", but I wasn't really complaining. At the very least, they were respectful. Keeping my promise, I turned back to their daughter to see her sitting with Foxy. No other children were coming at the moment, so Foxy likely opted to save the story for later. Instead, she was drawing with the girl and was currently finishing up an island with the three of us on it. It was pretty cute, and she once again made me look a lot better than I really do. This time, though, I didn't have that eye patch. The little girl's drawing was clearly trying to copy Foxy's but just wasn't as good. But I would _never_ say that. Hey, I may be an asshole, but I have my limits.

"Nice drawing you've made there." I said.

Foxy turned to me and beamed, incredibly joyful in every way.

"Why, thank ye, Curtis. It means a lo' comin' from ye."

I smirked and bent down next to Susie.

"I was talking to our friend here."

The little girl laughed, as did I. I looked up to see if Foxy found it as amusing as we did, but was a bit... confused, I suppose when instead of laughter or even a smile, her face was one of betrayal. Was she really upset, or was she doing a bit? Was she acting?

"Hey, your drawing's pretty good too." I said to Foxy with a wink.

She gave a small smile, but turned her head away from me and toward the girl. Was she fucking serious? Was she really upset over a joke? Handing Susie a new sheet of paper from off the table, I motioned for Foxy to follow me.

"Well, we have to do something really quick, but we'll be back before you know it. Don't go anywhere!"

As we stepped out into the hall, I searched for an empty party room nearby and brought Foxy in. She didn't meet my eyes, and fiddled with her fluffy tail. I grabbed her by the shoulders and put on a calm expression.

"Foxy, what's the matter? You know I was joking, right? There's no reason to be upset, and you're being ridiculous."

She took a quick glance upward at me, but went back to observing the floor, kicking at a particular spot on the floor as she spoke.

"I... I know tha'. But... it still hurt for some reason. Recently, I... I think I've developed some bad traits. I don't know why, but I jus' have. And I think that one of those traits... is jealousy."

I wasn't shocked in the slightest. It was obvious from the moment she got angry at Emily that she had a jealous streak. However, I _was_ surprised that she would get all jealous over a little girl's drawing.

"Foxy, there's no reason to be jealous. She's a little girl, and I was joking anyway. Besides, why should you be jealous anyway? It's just a drawing."

Foxy smiled sheepishly, as she had been doing quite a bit recently.

"I... Yer right. As usual. I don' know why I even..."

She didn't finish her sentence, trailing off and moving away from me.

"Let's see how l'il Susie's doin'."

I nodded in agreement, following her back to Kid's Cove. I wasn't going to push her to talk if she didn't want to. What kind of friend would I be if I did? As we approached our destination, I felt that odd cold feeling again. It started off as a chill in my spine, then grew into an icy knot in my back that climbed up to my neck. I looked around and saw nothing, so i continued to go on my way. As we reached the cove, however, the chill became extreme.

Then, a person exited Kid's Cove too quickly for me to identify them. I went to call after them, but they were gone as quickly as they appeared. I looked to Foxy to see how she reacted only to see her frozen up for a moment before blinking and continuing on as though nothing had happened at all. Shaking my head, I entered the room, relieved that at least the cold feeling had disappeared. I approached Susie to see if she could tell me anything about the person.

"Susie... who was that person?"

She looked at me confused, the look adding to my own confusion. Foxy approached and gave me a concerned look as well.

"What person, Curtis? There wasn't anyone else here."

But... that was impossible. I had taken my medicine. There's no way that was a hallucination. Unless... my medicine wasn't working anymore? Oh _fuck_. If that was the case, my life was about to get a lot worse. If I couldn't suppress the hallucinations, I might be considered a danger to those around me. I might lose my job. I might not get to see Foxy...

No. There was something else going on her. There had to be.

"Susie, please tell me the truth. Who was that, and did they say anything to you?"

She looked a bit afraid and shook her head.

"I don't know. Was somebody here?"

Impossible. She had to be pretending. There was no way in hell that I was just seeing shit. I refused to believe that it was nothing. Then, however, I remembered something. Something that I had somehow forgotten, even after it left such a big impact on how I saw things.

That voice. That puppet. Did it have something to do with this? It had to. If I wasn't being lied to, and I wasn't hallucinating, then that fucking voice likely was the source of all this trouble. Looking down at the girl, I nodded my head.

"Okay, I believe you. Sorry about that."

I turned to see Foxy's look of concern stay attached to her features. So far, it wasn't looking good for me. As far as I knew, they saw me as a crazy fuck right now, and really they wouldn't be entirely wrong. I decided just to play it off. Fortunately, I heard a group of children coming.

"Hey Foxy, I think I hear the rest of our crew coming. Prepare your speaking voice, 'cuz these folks deserve a good story!"

Immediately, Foxy perked up and turned her full attention to the entrance of the room, greeting the children coming into the room.

"Ahoy, mateys! Are ye ready fer a story full o' action and adventure?"

Naturally, the kids were pumped. If there was any definite fact in the world, it was that Foxy could entertain the hell out of children. Yet as she entertained, I couldn't take my mind off of that damn person. Who the hell were they? It was fucking with my head, and the fact that shit like that existed was bothersome. How it existed, I wasn't sure. But I would be damned if it didn't make me question my lack of faith.

Foxy told her stories, every once in a while involving me by asking me something or handing over the reins to me for a short while. I wasn't nearly as good of a storyteller as Foxy, so I did what I do best and played dumb while trying to be funny. Since they were little kids, it wasn't hard to do that.

Eventually, our story was over, and just in time for the main show to start back up again. As soon as the kids left, I turned to Foxy to see that her chipper appearance stayed put. It was clear that the children truly made her happy. Even when they tugged on her clothes, or tail, or stained her beautiful white fur, or bent one of her many features, she'd always forgive and forget. Personally, I didn't like that attitude. On the streets, that attitude made you look weak. That kinda attitude made people disrespect you. And if people disrespected you, they might try to kill you.

Yeah, I'm speaking from experience. Good times.

"Hey Foxy. I'm gonna go grab a pizza for lunch. Want anything?"

Foxy didn't say anything, just shrugging.

"Come on, Foxy. What do you want?"

She turned her head only a small amount toward me, not moving herself to face me.

"Why is it tha' you care about me well-bein'? I never questioned it, but... I want to know. Why do you care abou' me at all?"

I was stunned. Where did that question come from? What caused her to suddenly contemplate something like that? Well, I'd better not keep her waiting, I could tell that she was getting impatient. I didn't want to upset her, despite what she might think sometimes, so I thought out my response only to realize that the best thing to do was speak the truth. Not like the truth was bad, it's just so... difficult to say. It was kinda hokey, but in the end, it _was_ true.

"Foxy, there are plenty of answers to that, but the one that is the most true, you already know. It's because you're my friend. You always have been. I don't know why you'd think otherwise. Naturally, as my friend, I'm going to care about you. So, Foxy, I'll ask you again. Do you want anything?"

Foxy smiled a small smile. It was almost... melancholy. But why? She was just being so confusing. Her sudden sadness just came from nowhere and to be honest, it bothered me. A lot. Eventually, Foxy looked at me and spoke.

"I s'pose I'll have wha' yer havin'. An'... thank ye, Curtis."

I nodded my head and smiled at her as I headed out the door.

"Of course, Foxy."

With that strange series of events out of the way, I made my way to Trenton, a mutual friend of Jett and I. He was kinda goofy sometimes, and was easily one of the biggest slackers I knew, but damn if he wasn't fun to be around. As I approached his counter where he was serving drinks and shitty pizza, he saw me and waved with his goofy toothy grin plastered to his face.

"Hey, Curtis my man. What's good?"

"Life, I guess."

Trent rolled his eyes, but still smiled as he leaned onto the counter.

"So, what can I get ya?"

I looked at the hard-to-read menu above his head and picked out what Foxy and I were going to have.

"Two medium pepperoni pizzas. Also... two cokes."

As I reached for my wallet, Trenton waved his hand in denial.

"Nah, man, I got ya covered."

"Trent, you can't pay for everything. Let me do this."

"Nah, dude. Let me just-"

"God dammit just take the twenty." I ordered, slapping the twenty dollar bill onto the table.

He sighed, but took the twenty anyway and pulled out the pre-made food and drinks.

"Enjoy, you stubborn bastard."

"I plan on it."

Trenton just laughed lightly as I walked away. I headed back to Kid's Cove, entering to see Foxy sitting down on the floor with her legs a bit wider than usual. It was weird, but I ignored it. I handed over one of the cokes and set the pizzas down. Being the overpriced pieces of shit they were, the pizzas were actually much smaller than pizzas from any other place, and tasted much worse. However, they were nearby, and I didn't need much more than they gave me.

"Thanks, Curt."

I had never heard her use my nickname before, I think. Mentally shrugging, I opened up the box of pizza and took a bite out of a pre-cut slice, and...

Holy shit. It was actually _good_! Like, not shitty-good, but like good-good, you know? Now, this raised multiple questions. No, I wasn't just going to enjoy it. I had to have answers, dammit! Looking over, I saw Foxy take a bite as well, her eyes lighting up. I smiled at that, but I don't think she noticed. Not that it mattered. Her attention was focused almost solely on her slice of pizza.

"Why, shiver me timbers! I be quite astounded at the quality o' this 'ere pizza! Since when 'ave we ever enjoyed this sorry excuse of a meal before?" Foxy asked, truly bewildered.

I was just as confused.

"I... I don't really know. I don't think we have, really. Why is it suddenly... better?"

I just shrugged at my own question, quickly scarfing down the rest of the suddenly-tasty pizza. Perhaps someone had complained about the blandness/dryness/overall-crappy quality. It didn't really matter, though. As long as it was good, right? As Foxy and I finished up, I took a drink of my soda and checked the time, seeing that we had a few more hours. The main show was ending, but the kids all stayed to eat for once rather than running off to Kid's Cove. Honestly, I felt a twinge of disappointment. Not sure why, but I really did.

As I watched the activity in the show room, I saw the other animatronics step down from the stage. However, they headed toward us rather than the group of children. Confused, I got a bit more professional and waited for them to enter. Freddy approached me first, his arms open for a hug.

"Curtis, my friend! Are you excited?"

I was confused for a moment, but then I remembered about the postponed play we were supposed to do.

"For the play?"

He beamed, the others smiling as well. It would have been creepy if... Okay, it was still creepy.

"Why, of course! We worked so hard on our parts, and I'm sure you and your friend have as well! Speaking of, where is h-" Freddy started, getting interrupted by a suddenly panicked Chica.

"OH MY GOODNESS! IS THAT... B-BLOOD?" Chica shouted in a panic, pointing at my shoes.

Oh, god dammit-mother-cocksucker-fuckjob-faggot-piece of shit! I forgot about the fucking blood! Did I really go this whole time, even with kids around, not scrubbing off the blood? I felt lucky that the kids were so focused on Foxy and not my shoes.

"Quiet, Chica! Yes, it is, but there's a reason for that." I said, attempting to calm them down, only causing Chica and Bonnie to both start hyperventilating.

"B-b-but... Wh-wha... H-How did...?" Chica stuttered, placing a hand over her chest as she leaned against the wall, staring at the blood.

Bonnie also was freaking the hell out, clasping his hands over his cock-sucking mouth and tearing up. Fortunately, Freddy was calm, though his eyes were wide. Turning to his companions, he put his hand out, shushing them.

"Let him speak. He said he had a reason."

Thank the _Lord_ Freddy was sensible.

"Thanks, Freddy. Anyway, yes, it _is_ blood. _But_ , it's because of... an accident. A terrible one that my friend was caught in. Jett took him to the hospital and is looking after him so I could go to work. I'll also probably be visiting him too, as he's in critical condition. But because of that... we can't have our play today. I'm sorry, but I hope you can understand." I explained, genuine tears forming.

I knew that it was my fault. And Jett's fault. We killed Dexter. He may have been alive right now, but I doubted he would make it. That kid may have shot him, but I know he was aiming for me. Because of Jett and I doing what we do, we put our good friend in danger. Since we were little kids, Jett and I were causing trouble. Once we met Dexter, we'd only ever caused him trouble as well. And look where it got all of us.

Chica and Bonnie looked like they were going to cry. I _knew_ I was going to cry. Freddy took his hat off, placing it over his "heart" as he looked me in the eye.

"I... I'm so sorry to hear that. Please, let them know I wish them well. I really do. And don't worry about the play, Curtis. We absolutely understand." Freddy said with a very genuine looking smile. If I hadn't known he was an animatronic, I would have believed I was talking to a real friendly bipedal bear.

"Thank you, Freddy. It... It means a whole lot."

He nodded his head, putting his hat back on before motioning for the others to follow. Chica moved from her spot on the wall, quickly wrapping me in a hug and squeezing me tight. Once she let go, she gave her own words of sympathy before turning to leave. Next was Bonnie, who though I didn't want him to touch me, I allowed to give his condolences and a hug of his own. His hug was more gentle than Chica's, and he looked me in the eye as he spoke.

As they all turned to leave, Freddy flashed one more sad smile toward me, tipping his hat as he left. Sighing, I wiped my eyes and felt another pair of arms wrap themselves around me. I didn't have to look to know it was Foxy. I put my hands over hers, smiling because I knew I had friends to support me.

"Curtis... ye have too kind a heart to be dealin' with somethin' like this. It ain't fair. It be a dam- er, darn shame that life is so cruel to such a good soul."

Once again, wrong. But it still felt fantastic to hear. Wait, did she almost _swear_? Damn is a swear, right? Am I influencing her? I sure hope not. That could only end... not well.

"I appreciate that you're there for me, Foxy."

"Well, you're always there fer me. 'Tis only fair." she said with a chuckle, nuzzling my neck.

I chuckled as well, giving her hands/paws/grabby-things a light squeeze. I felt so lucky at the moment. I knew my life had been hard, but it was hard to say that I didn't have it pretty good right now. I was overpaid for a job I love, I had friends to support me, and...

Oh, right. One of them is dying. And the police are after us. On the bright side, they don't know it was us yet. Plus, maybe Dexter might live. Maybe.

Maybe...

"Ah... It be nice to relax a bit, y'know? I'm glad I can spend me time with ya, laddie. Yer me best friend, Curtis. I know I've been... less than stellar with me behavior, but I swear on me honor that I'll be better. It's jus'... ye make me feel special, and when others take tha' from me, it hurts." Foxy explained.

I understood. I knew she had feelings for me, but knew I didn't reciprocate those feelings, so that likely made her just crave spending more time with me. It was normal behavior, I think, so it didn't bother me too much. Well, she was a robot, but she still had a human-like personality. I knew she could feel pleasure, and she was close enough to a person for me to treat her like one.

"I understand. It's normal to feel that way given the circumstances. You're a good woman, Foxy, and I don't need you to forgive me. In fact, look me in the eye when I say this to you."

She did as told as I turned to face her, putting my hand on her shoulder and looking her in her magnificent golden orbs.

"Foxy, you're one of my best friends. There is nothing that you could do that would make me stay mad at you."

She blinked her eyes, thinking for a moment.

"Nothing?"

"Well, maybe if you, like, killed one of my friends I would stay mad, but anything less I really couldn't."

And that was the truth.

"Well... alright then. Do ye promise?"

I nodded my head, not breaking eye contact. She smiled softly, still thinking about something. I let go of her, sitting down in a chair as Foxy followed to do the same. As I got comfortable, I thought about my future. What did it hold for me? Was I safe in my future? Did my future involve Foxy?

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I really, truly did care about Foxy. She was unique, and even for a children's entertainment robot, she had quite the sexy build. Hey, it may have been weird, but tits are tits, and an ass is an ass. Who the hell are _you_ to judge?

Laying back in the chair, I was startled when I felt something somewhat heavy on my leg. I didn't have to look to know it was Foxy, so I just continued to stare at my hands. Feeling a buzz in my pocket, I checked my phone to see that Jett had texted me.

' _Dexter isn't doing too good. Might not make it. But he doesn't want to see anyone right now. I'll tell you when he does.'_

Well, that stung a bit. But I knew why Dex wouldn't want to see us. We put him in harm's way, and now he'll probably die... because of _us_. Because of those fucking _thugs_. I hated them. We may have caused them trouble, but they were the first to take it too far when they beat our friend half to death. Yeah, we might have taken it _way_ too far on That Night, but that's a whole other situation.

I was going to get my revenge. I was going to hunt down and gut every last one of those fuckers. If they were associated in a friendly way, they were as good as dead. Hell, if I could get away with it as many times as I have, why not take it to the next level? It would be tonight. I was going to do it.

They were _all_ gonna die.

Foxy shuffled in my lap, laying down on my and placing her head on my shoulder, her warm artificial breath dancing lightly across the left side of my face.

"Ye alright, Curtis? Ye seem a bit... quiet."

I blinked, turning to the fox.

"Oh. I was just... thinking."

She chuckled a bit, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Really? Well, tha's new." she joked.

"Oh, ha ha, you jerk."

Foxy stuck her tongue out at me, and I retaliated by doing it back. She giggled, making me smile. Her smile and laughter was a wonderful thing. It felt so genuine, and it made me wonder: how could anybody not consider them to be alive? They were practically just like us, only made of metal instead of bones and all. Sighing, I hugged the pirate fox, much to the surprise of both of us. It felt nice, but I was still stressed out to the point where everything made my head hurt a little bit.

"Curt, ye don' look so good. No offense or anythin'. Do ye... need anythin'?"

I shook my head, only for a wave of nausea to wash over me. I was fine a second ago, but suddenly I just... wasn't.

"Maybe not. But I'll live through it."

She shook her head, getting off my lap and looking me in the eyes and studying me.

"Hmmm... The problem seems to be stress. I can tell withou' any doubt tha's what it be."

Damn she was accurate. Without even waiting for me to respond, she started to contemplate a solution, not thinking long before coming up with an idea.

"Well, many thin's can cause stress. But I know a way to... relieve it." she said, ending on a soft tone.

I was going to ask what it was, but was forced to hold in a yelp when she placed her hand right next to my crotch, her thumb rubbing my inner thigh. She eyed me hungrily, and I was freaked the hell out. There was no way that this was happening!

"Whoa, Foxy! What the hell are you doing? Not only are there kids here, but we-"

"What's so bad about a massage?"

Right. _That_ was your plan, you lying cunt. Okay, I shouldn't call her a cunt. But I'll be damned if I allow that shit. Though... her teeth and claws make it hard to argue.

"Oh. Okay then. I'll let you do that."

Even though I really didn't want to.

"Great. Come lay on this group o' pillows and I'll get started."

I did as she asked, laying down on the large pillows as I felt my shirt being lifted off. I was going to protest, but Foxy decided to explain why it was alright.

"Curt, the children have all left. It ain't closin' time, but it almost is, and the guests are all gone. Let me do this for ye."

Nodding, I let my shirt come off. Her fur felt nice on my bare skin, as did her gentle touch. Almost eagerly, she grabbed a hold of my shoulders and began to work the muscles there. Immediately, I felt relief. Relaxing, she moved on to work another set of muscles. I think she noticed my scars, because she gave a small gasp, but said nothing else.

"My, my, Curtis. You're quite muscular, ain't ya? Very nice..."

Suddenly less comfortable, I tried to ignore that as she put a bit more pressure on by back and rubbed a particularly tense area.

"How did you learn to do this?" I asked.

She giggled, her thumbs tracing scars on my back.

"Mostly jus' guesswork, but I also may have... watched a tutorial video on yer phone while ye slept."

Oh. Wait, how did she access my phone? Maybe she memorized the code after watching _me_ do it? Oh well. Not a real big deal.

"Alright then. Just don't go on my phone anymore, please. Also, you're _really_ good at this."

She giggled again, having moved around me to get a better angle. Or so I think. I dunno what she was doing. I stayed looking down, as her crotch was right by my face, and I didn't want to get a face full. Strangely, it was making my face very warm. I knew that her cooch was a thing that existed... for some reason... so that was probably the source. As Foxy rubbed my lower back, she had to lean in pretty far, bringing her goods much closer to my face. As she rubbed a knot in my back, I could hear her making small sounds of exertion, but they were almost identical to moans.

The combination of the assaulted senses was intense. As she gave her small moans and made small thrusting motions with her crotch was giving me a not-so-great visual. I knew damn well what she was trying to do, and I would be damned if I let it work.

Wait, wait, no. No no no. Go away, boner.

"Foxy, I'm not really comfortable with this anymore."

"Why not, lad?"

I didn't answer, only getting up as I listened to a disappointed noise come from Foxy. I sighed, not liking how things were going with Foxy today. Her behavior was strange, and she kept being too... sexual, I guess. That, and the fact that I had grabbed her ass earlier, was causing me to feel a bit uncomfortable. I was almost certain now that she had put that rip in her pants herself, hoping I would do exactly what I did.

"I think... I think I'll be going home tonight. I'll see you-"

Foxy grabbed my shoulder, her eyes tearing up.

"W-W-What? Why? I thought we 'ad somethin' special. Wha' did I do? I... I'm sorry, whatever it be! Really! I won' do it again, an' I'll do whatever ye want me to, jus' please stay! It's so lonely 'ere, and I... I miss ye every moment you're gone. Please!"

I pondered it for a moment, really considering it. She looked like she would be devastated without me, but I was still not okay with spending the night with someone who suddenly felt like a potential rapist. She truly did seem sorry for her behavior, but still.

"I'm sorry, Foxy, but I need to get home. I promise that tomorrow... wait no, the _next_ day, I'll stay."

Foxy started to smile, but seemed to catch something.

"Why not tomorrow? What'll ye be doin'?"

I thought up a lie on the spot.

"Helping my friend's parents with moving. They're practically hoarders, so you know how that-"

"Don't lie to me, Curtis."

She gave me a glare that I didn't know she could make. I wasn't scared of her, but at that moment, I knew I probably should have been. Who knows how strong those robotic arms were? She grabbed onto my shoulders with a tight grip and leaned in close.

"Well?"

I sighed, deciding to give her the truth.

"I'm sorry for lying, Foxy, but I know how you feel, so I didn't want to hurt you. I'm... I'm going on a date, and-"

Foxy let go of me, a low growl emanating from her.

"It's with tha' 'Emily' girl, ain't it?"

When she saw me nod my head, tears streamed down her angry face. Her hands clenched tightly, an almost unnoticeable sob escaping her.

"I... I don' understand. Why? Why do I even try? I pretended to believe the lie ye told me las' night about possibly lovin' me, but I can't take it anymore. You're a liar, Curtis, and ye keep breakin' me heart. Ye be the only man tha' cares about me, and... and..." she didn't finish, instead opting to clench her teeth and weep some more.

I let out a deep breath slowly, putting a hand on her shoulder only to have it pushed away.

"No. I don' want to be touched. Everythin' I've tried has failed. I'm a failure who I know you'll ne'er love."

Standing up straight, I placed a much firmer grip on Foxy's shoulder and forced her to look me in the eye.

"God dammit, Foxy, listen to me. What I said was _not_ a lie. Even if I don't fully believe it, it isn't a lie. But Foxy, I also told you that my personal life is _my_ business, not yours. And, on top of that, when you keep acting more sexually aggressive every day, it becomes hard to work around you. Do you understand? It's really not your fault. I understand you don't actually know a whole lot about this kinda thing. But Foxy... this isn't working."

She continued to cry, but I pulled her close, letting her cry into my shoulder as I pat her on the back.

"I... I understan', Curtis. And you're right. Again. As ye were when you doubted how I got tha' rip in me pants. It was me, because it would get ye closer to me. Curtis... all I want is _you_. Jus' _you_. Ye make my day so full o' joy. Ye care abou' me, and go above an' beyond to make me feel like a person. For tha'... I want to spend every moment with ye. Curtis, everythin' I've done is to convince ya to be with me. Nothin' more. Please understand."

I did. I absolutely understood. With her lack of life outside this stupid restaurant/arcade, and the fact that she's treated like property, I can understand why I'm what she latches on to.

"I understand, Foxy. I swear I do."

She wiped her eyes and smiled up at me.

"T-Thank ye, Curtis. I'm so, so sorry about how uncomfortable I made ye. It jus' felt right, and the more I did it the harder it was to control the urges."

Yeah, I've been in the same situation before, so I understood.

"It's fine, Foxy. You didn't harm me in any way, and besides that, I _did_ make you that promise."

Foxy stopped crying almost entirely, hugging me tight.

"I'm so glad to hear tha' from ye. Thanks, Curtis. Tha's why you're me best friend."

"Of course, Foxy. There's nothing I want more than that." I said, breaking our hug.

Before I turned to leave, I gave her a small kiss on the forehead. As I turned to leave I heard shuffling behind me and turned back around. I saw Foxy standing behind me, twiddling her thumbs as she struggled to say what she wanted. Eventually, she just stopped trying to speak and just approached me, leaning in and kissing me on my lips, her wet face brushing up against my own face. The action didn't catch me by surprise, but I didn't react to it either. I just let it happen, knowing that Foxy was just getting something she felt she needed.

It was kinda nice, but I wasn't sure if it was normal to feel this okay with it. Not that I was, like, enjoying it or anything, but I wasn't disgusted at the idea of being kissed by a bipedal animal woman.

Foxy broke the kiss, her look being one of shame. It was obvious that she had wanted to do that for a while, and she decided that it would be okay because of my promise. However, she didn't look too pleased with herself.

"I... I shouldn't've done that. I'm sorry."

I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Foxy, look at me. It's fine. No big deal. Like I said, I understand. But a warning would be nice next time, though I'd prefer if you just didn't do it without permission."

She nodded her head, giggling a bit.

"Right. Tha' makes sense."

"Of course it does. I'm the one who said it, right?"

We laughed together for a long moment, and once I was done laughing at my own stupid joke, I pat Foxy on the shoulder and winked at her.

"Well, goodnight. I'll be here tomorrow as soon as possible. I promise." I said, turning to the door.

"Goodnight, Curtis."

I gave Foxy one final wave goodbye, receiving one in return, and headed to the entrance to leave. I saw Mr. Fazbear greeting Jeremy(?) at the entrance, so I decided to give the two a farewell. I just hoped Jeremy what's-his-face kept his mouth shut about last night.

"Goodnight, you two! See you tomorrow."

As I headed out the door, I heard Mr. Fazbear call after me.

"You too, my boy! Thank you for doing such a good job!"

Speaking of good jobs...

I turned around, approaching Mr. Fazbear again.

"That reminds me. Today, the pizza was much higher quality. Why's that?"

Mr. Fazbear seemed to be glad that I asked.

"Why, I'm glad you asked!"

Yep.

"Well, the restaurant has been getting some stellar reviews! Many even say how much their children just _beg_ to see Captain Foxy and Curtis again! Therefore, more people come, allowing us to buy better ingredients. It's all thanks to our lovely employees."

"Oh. Well that's great! See you guys!"

This time, I actually left. My destination was Dexter's home. It was dark, and my car (yes, I have a car) was still in the shop. Because of that, I had quite the way to walk-

I stopped in place when my phone buzzed, making me check to see that Donovan had texted me.

' _Car's ready, man. Come get this raggedy-ass thing lol.'_

I laughed at Donovan's text. He was kinda goofy, but he was good company. Changing direction, I hurried to his shop, which was nearby. Spotting it, I rushed in, said "Hey" to Donovan, and got my car, waving as I hurried out the shop.

"Sorry, Donovan! Kinda in a rush!"

He just nodded his head and waved as I rushed to Dexter's home. Dexter didn't want to see me at the hospital, so I was going to do the next best thing.

I was going to get the fuckers that were the center of all this. Yeah, we may have been the ones who started shit a lot, but these guys were already starting shit anyway. And tonight, they would never bother anyone again. Nobody. _Ever_.

I spotted Dexter's apartment, parking in his driveway. I quickly got out, finding the rock that he hid his key under, and bolted to his door. I hurried inside, looking for what I needed.

Gloves? Bingo.

Black Mask? Got it.

Knife? Yep.

.300 Blackout rifle with a suppressor? Hell yeah.

I grabbed everything I needed, including multiple magazines for the near-silent rifle and a vest that would hopefully stop some kind of bullet if it came to it. Dexter was loaded with dangerous shit, so this would make avenging him quite the simple task. These fuckfaces were gonna get it.

Quickly and quietly, I got back to my car, locking Dexter's door before hurrying off to my target's home. Actually, it would be multiple homes, but they should all be at this one place. However, I would check the others first, just in case.

I pulled up to the first home, looking through the windows to see it was empty. Out of spite, I slashed the tires of the car in the driveway and moved on. Fortunately, it was laughable how few cameras there were around this city, and most of them didn't work. That, my mask, and the lack of people that gave a shit would make it hard for the cops to find out who did it.

One by one, I went to all the homes, finding them all empty, so I knew where they all were. I drove to the place quickly, but quietly, and parked in a parking lot nearby. Rifle in hand, I reached the house, seeing no lights. Hopefully, they would be asleep. If not...

I searched for an open window, seeing one conveniently reachable window. I reached it, climbing inside and looking around, seeing nobody. My heart raced. If I fucked up, I died. Either that, or I end up in prison. Not good either way. Quietly, I opened the door after hearing silence, looking down the dark halls to see nobody. I kept my finger close to the trigger, ready to kill.

I went to the room directly across, listening for movement or voices. Hearing nothing, I silently swung the door open, rifle aimed and ready. Inside was a guy sleeping in the bed, another with headphones on at the computer. Knife in hand, I approached slowly. Raising the blade up, I swung down, sticking him in the neck and covering his mouth, the rifle hanging on my shoulder by the strap.

His body quickly went limp, his blood pooling on the ground. Spotting his wallet, I snatched it up and went to the guy on the bed, stabbing him in the throat. It was grotesque, but I was getting used to it. My adrenaline was through the roof, and the thrill was morbidly exciting. I went to the next room, swinging the door open quickly to see two guys sitting at a desk playing cards.

I took aim with the rifle, and before one of them could turn their head, I popped one in the skull the other too shocked to react in time before I shot him as well. Picking up the bullet casings, I listened to hear if anyone had heard the whispers that were the shots. With no new activity, I headed to the next room.

I was gonna clear this whole damn building, and nobody could stop me. After this, our problems would be over.

After clearing the rooms in the hall, another five guys having a brand new hole in their skulls, I made my way to the living area. Sitting in a chair watching television was the big man himself.

The leader of the gang.

He went to reach for a beer when he spotted me. I already had my rifle aimed at him, so he raised his arms up in surrender. Perhaps I could use him to my advantage in some way...

Nah.

 _Crack!_

With a nigh-silent, whisper-like click, his brains went sailing through the air. Seeing nobody else, I searched the rest of the floor to find it empty. Heading to the top floor, I was ready to end the life of every single one of these cocksuckers. If they weren't me, they were to die. Simple as that.

After that? Why, I'll just go home of course.

And watch the place burn.

* * *

I was back home, tired as hell. It was probably about one in the morning, and I needed my sleep. After a shower, I was brushing my teeth when I felt that strange chill down my back. It bothered me a lot. More than killing over a dozen people. More than the fact that I was remorseless, even now. What was wrong with me?

The chill lingered as I brushed. When I finished, I bent down to spit, washing my mouth out with water before raising back up and looking in the mirror. When I looked behind myself, however, I jumped in surprise, fists at the ready.

Only to see that it was nothing.

Fuck. I was totally losing it.

My medicine must have been failing.

I got out my shaving razor, prepping myself for a shave so I could... shave. I whistled as I removed the facial hair, wiping off my face and admiring my work. Exiting the bathroom, I sat on my couch and looked out my window, seeing that house burn in the distance.

I could see flashing lights and hear sirens. Was I worried? Nah. I did everything I was supposed to. I picked up the bullet casing, wore gloves, stayed unseen, and even dug the mostly-intact bullets out of the thugs. Even if they found the bullet fragments still left, or noticed brain matter in the wrong place, it wouldn't really matter.

It would never come back to me.

I was going to be fine. After all, I always have been. Never have I been caught, and I never will be.

Talk about luck, eh?

But of course, that was just the most likely outcome. There was still the chance I got caught. There was still the chance that they somehow traced the guns to a dying Dexter. And of course, they might just arrest me out of suspicion.

'Cuz that's how they roll in the city of Slumville.

Sorry, I meant Cawthon.

Actually, no, I didn't.

This city was a shitty excuse for what was meant to be something livable. But it was perfect for people like me.

Murderers, criminals, and worse.

Though I hated to admit it, but, especially recently, I _had_ been killing a lot. The fact that I ever killed anyone was bad enough, but now I had about twenty dead by my hands. I had spilled the blood of twenty people. Twenty, when most serial killers didn't reach that.

I was a monster. And I enjoyed it.

What was _wrong_ with me?

I shook my head, getting up to lay down in my bed. As I stared at my ceiling, I began to drift to sleep, the sounds of sirens in the distance. A smile tugged at my lips. At first, I was a bit confused by this action, but as I listened to the sirens, I knew why.

I had killed twenty. And I was getting away with it.

I laughed to myself, more out of relief than anything.

Closing my eyes, I smiled as I drifted to sleep.

What was wrong with me? Actually, I had a better question for myself.

Who would ever know?

With that thought, I finally started my slumber, my nightmares leaving me alone for once.

Maybe they were afraid of me...

Ha. Haha.

Yeah, I would be too.

* * *

 _Howdy! Lord Jerry here. It's been a while. How are y'all? Good, I hope. Sorry this one took so long! With my other story taking as long as it had, and doing a bit of re-writing for this, this chapter has been delayed far too long. But don't worry, I'll try not to do that again. What did y'all think? Was it shitty? Let me know! So yeah, Curtis is getting to be very violent. As you heard from him, he kinda likes the thrill. Will he find a way to stop himself before he snaps?_ _We can only hope..._

 _Let me know what you think. Every review helps, so it would be appreciated. Once again, sorry for the delay, but I'll try to be on my made up schedule. Until next time!_


	5. Busy Schedule

My alarm screeched at me early in the morning, reminding me to get my dumb ass up and out of bed. So, that's exactly what I did, shaking my head to get my messy hair somewhat in order. Swinging my legs over the side, I looked out of my window, seeing the aftermath of last night in the far distance. If I strained my eyes hard enough, I could see the smoldering pile of ash that was the den of those thugs. If I was to believe anything at all, it was that things would never be the same after all of that.

Hopefully, it would be for the better. If not...

I stood up, yawning as I made my way over to my bathroom. Once I reached it, I turned on the faucet and splashed water onto my face when I felt a chill crawl up my back. Looking up, I caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure before it disappeared. What the hell was it? It hasn't tried to contact me or harm me yet, so I wasn't entirely worried, especially since it was likely just a hallucination.

But what if it wasn't? My hallucinations never were accompanied by a chill up the spine, yet it always happened when I saw that damn figure.

Oh well. What can you do?

I finished washing up and got my uniform on, the whole thing consisting of a hat and name tag. Yeah, really complex, right? Anyway, after putting those on, I headed outside and locked my door, testing it to make sure it was secure. You could never be too sure in this part of town. It was a particularly chilly day, so I was glad my hoodie was warm. My car, on the other hand, would need a moment to heat up.

Turning the car on, I hopped inside and turned up the heat to full blast. To pass the time while my car warmed up, I pulled out my phone to browse the internet. The first thing I looked at was the news, finding last night's incident plastered everywhere. How convenient. Looking further, I discovered a joyous tidbit of information.

 _'Investigation shows no signs of what caused the fire. It appears as though all denizens were caught either asleep or unaware by the fire, all perishing in the flames.'_

Call it a hunch, but I think the detectives in this city are fucking stupid. It doesn't take anyone with half a brain to notice that there was no way in hell for those bodies to be positioned the way they were in such a situation. But I already knew that they weren't that clever, so I didn't bother. At least that was the logic of my adrenaline-fueled mind of mine at the time.

There was also the fact that they had no evidence that any person had killed them, so that was the best guess they had.

Not that I'm complaining.

With the car finally warmed up, I made my way to work, putting on a friendly face. More than anything, I truly looked forward to seeing Foxy again. She was a sight for sore eyes, and had a personality that could cheer up anyone. And believe me, I needed some cheering up.

As I cruised down the road, I let out a sigh while I passed by the smoldering remains of the gang den. I felt no remorse for them. I hated them, just like they hated me. But now, they were gone. There was no more hate to be had. I had done what I should have done years ago. Without those bastards, life could go on as it was supposed to. And if Dexter survived, we, no I, owed him a massive apology.

If he survived.

 _If_...

I pulled into the parking lot of Freddy's, seeing I was early. Turning on my phone, I went to message Jett, asking him how things were.

 _'Dexter hasn't contacted me. But he isn't dead yet. I think he's mad at us. I would be too. But after work, I need you to come over to my place. I need you to help me with something important.'_

 _'What?'_

 _'You'll see.'_

Right.

I got out of my car, looking on toward my place of employment. It was open, so I headed inside, already greeted with the odd scent combination of cleaning supplies and pizza. It wasn't awful, but it was... unusual. Not for me, as I worked there, but you know what I mean. Making my way to Kid's Cove, I waved toward the animatronics on stage and received a few waves in return. However, some of the other employees looked at me like I was crazy.

Oh yeah, they're just machines to the rest of the staff. I guess it would be the same as waving to a toaster from their point of view. That would be humorous if I wasn't talking about me waving at a toaster, in essence.

Shrugging it off, I entered Foxy's Cove, knocking as I entered.

"Hey there, Captain! How are ya?"

The vixen turned around, her eyes lighting up and tail wagging rapidly. She quickly crossed the distance between us, wrapping me in a warm hug.

"Curtis! I missed ya, laddie! I ain't doin' too bad. How 'bout ye, lad?" she asked excitedly.

Honestly? I could have been better. I had a lot on my mind, most of it dealing with the strange hallucinations and possibly spiritual circumstances of my life. But that was none of her concern.

"Pretty good. To be honest, I really missed being back here. But with business taken care of, things should be back to normal by tomorrow. As if I could keep away from my favorite Captain for very long!" I said with a laugh.

Foxy giggled, laying her head on my shoulder.

"Glad ta hear it! The show today'll be about the same as usual. Nothin' fancy."

"Okay then. Today probably won't be too busy."

She nodded, sitting down in a chair, opting to watch me as I took a seat.

"So, Captain, did anything interesting happen last night?" I asked, genuinely curious.

The white and pink fox shook her head, resting her chin on her hand.

"Nothin' at all. We talked a small bit with tha' security fella, Jeremy, but he wasn't much on talkin'. Kinda nervous. Attentive, though."

So it seems that this "Jeremy" guy wasn't so useless after all. If he was gonna be a security guard, he had to be attentive. And if Foxy said he was, then I trusted her word.

"Yeah, sounds about right. So what does Scott do now? I mean, the only thing I've ever seen him do was be the night guard."

Foxy leaned back, propping her feet up on a table.

"Well, he got transferred to the day shift. He doesn't seem to like it tha' much, but I can't see why tha' is. Daytime is so much more fun! But anything is fun with ye around, Curt."

That was nice to hear.

"Thanks, Foxy. We'll be opening soon, so be ready." I stated, stretching and getting limber. It was necessary if I was going to preform. Sometimes you need to get active while acting.

"Ye look ridiculous right now." Foxy snickered.

I just shrugged, doing one more stretch before putting on my game face.

"Alright. What story are we doing today?"

"Not sure. I'd kinda like to do one where we can do a bit more conversing with one another. Tha' way we can improv a bit. Make it a bit different, y'know?"

Improv was my strong suit, so that would be no problem. I nodded my head, stretching to get myself limber. After all, I needed to be in tip-top condition if I was to be acting. Believe it or not, I wanted to give the best possible performance for the kids. If I was going to do something, I was going to do it right. It may have been a kid's show, but I cared about what they thought. Plus, I might get a raise if I try hard enough. Not that I needed it, but I was gonna take whatever I could get.

I finished up stretching, taking notice of the lack of music coming from the main stage. I assumed that the band had finished playing. I was proven correct when I heard an employee herding the children our way. Foxy turned toward me and winked.

"Jus' follow along. I believe in ya!"

Our little guests filed in, the employee turning toward me. I looked up to see it was Emily and smiled, giving a small wave. She gave a small wave back, smiling and winking at me. Out of curiosity, I turned to see how Foxy would react. I could see her watching Emily from the corner of her eye, but she gave no other reaction to Emily.

The woman approached me, keeping her voice low while the children filed in.

"Hey Curtis. You still up for the movies later? I think I know what I want to see."

I nodded, my smile still present on my face.

"Of course. What do you want to see?"

She played with her hair, not meeting my eyes.

"Promise not to laugh?"

"I promise."

She let out a breath of air, smiling timidly up at me. I didn't take her for the kind to be timid, but I suppose she had a fear of judgement. I could understand, but recently, my fears were more... tangible.

"Alright then. I was hoping to see that _Blink of an Eye_ movie."

I was a bit confused. Why would it be embarrassing to want to see that movie? It wasn't like it was some kind of cheesy rom-com or something. It was a mystery movie with somewhat mythical elements to it. And from what I could tell, it was going to be quite popular.

"What?"

"I know. Dorky, right?"

"No, no. Not at all. In fact, that's why I'm confused. Why were you so embarrassed about wanting to see it?"

Emily tapped the ground with her foot, shrugging and looking over the room as the kids settled down.

"I guess I just thought it might make me look like a geek. It _is_ a comic-book movie after all."

Well, I had no idea. But you learn something everyday, right? I noticed the children were pretty much settled, so I decided to wrap up the conversation.

"If it makes you feel better, _I_ don't think you're a geek. But I have a show to do, so... see you later?"

She laughed, giving me a quick hug.

"Yeah. See you."

With that, she left the room while Foxy turned to the children with a smile. But to me it looked... off. Like it was forced or something. I just assumed it was because of my interaction with Emily. She would have to get over it, but I still felt a little bad about it. Like I had betrayed her or something. However, I wasn't going to let my date with Emily be ruined by thoughts of a jealous fox robot.

Was I wrong for that? Perhaps... But I had a show to do.

"Yar! Avast ye, scurvy dogs! 'Ave ye come fer adventure? Well, ye've looked in th' right place. There be adventure aplenty in the Cove, and with me partner and first mate, Curtis the Scoundrel, we'll tell ya of our adventures in lands far away!"

The kids cheered, excited to hear the stories we had to share with them. Even I was a bit excited, as I didn't know what was in store since we would improv a bit more than usual. It was an interesting feeling. I quite enjoyed it. Maybe I was an adrenaline junky or something. That would explain what I had felt last night. Yeah. That was it...

It had to be.

"Well then, listen close as we tell ye the curse of the Bone Chest, haunted by the meanest of the pirates of old: Captain Dread!"

The children got quiet as Foxy began the tale, and I took the queue to dim the lights, adding to the ambiance.

"Our day started out like any other, with me steerin' the ship, while Curtis did... whatever he does in his free time."

A child raised their hand, and Foxy called on them.

"Curtis, what were you doing in your free time?" a little girl asked.

Smiling, I chuckled and moved more into view.

"Nothing interesting. Just creating an algorithm for calculating star positions for better navigation across international waters."

Once I saw that I had totally lost the kids, I laughed and let Foxy take back over.

"Right. So while Curtis did... _that_... I noticed a glimmerin' in a cave on an island nearby. So, I went to investigate. Once we reached the mouth of the cave, I dropped the anchor and headed inside, me trusty first mate following close behind."

Already, the children were enthralled with the tale. Foxy was fantastic at her job, no doubt.

"I'm really glad we brought a light! That cave was spooky!" I added to Foxy's tale.

"Tha' it was, Curtis. Especially when we traveled further into it. Do ya know what we saw?" Foxy asked, pausing.

The children threw out a few guesses, but I remembered the story's general direction, so I knew the answer. When there was no response from Foxy, I took that as a queue to speak.

"Why, a massive crashed ship is what it was! Never had I seen something so spooky yet beautiful at the same time. Ornate engravings, gold trim, and a tattered yet intricate flag."

Foxy chuckled, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I couldn'ta said it better myself. And what's more, were the piles o' treasure all across it. Full o'gold, gems, and more."

She let the kids have a moment to imagine it before continuing the story.

"But there was one problem: the ghost of Cap'n Dread! As soon as we set foot on that cursed ship, he appeared, telling us, 'Turn back now, or face my wrath!'"

Some of the kids gasped, causing me to inwardly smile. Children were so easy to tell stories to. Even the simplest tale could infatuate them when that same story would make any other person roll their eyes and groan. It certainly made my job not only easier, but much more rewarding as well. Just the pay was fine, but the satisfaction of feeling appreciated was very helpful to my psyche.

"He brandished his ghostly blade, tauntin' us with his cruel laugh. I tried to defeat him, but me sword passed right through him! Yet when he attacked, his sword was able to cut right through me hat!"

The kids were on edge. Even though they could clearly see that we didn't lose, they were able to hold their suspension of disbelief much better than I would be able to. As they waited for the solution, I stepped up, pulling out a prop sword from a chest nearby.

"But I figured out how to stop him. Behind a pile of gold I was hiding- I mean... searching behind," I started, making the kids laugh, "I found the solution to our ghost problem: another Ghost Sword!"

The kids were all amazed at the idea. To wow them further, I did a few tricks with the prop sword, spinning it around and tossing it into the air and catching it.

"And I be glad he found it! As I was backed into a corner, I heard a courageous shout from behind the ghostly Captain."

"I jumped into action, knocking the sword out of the old pirate's hand," I said, jumping across the room, brandishing the prop and mimicking attacks, giving a bit more of a physical show for the kids, "but as soon as I did, he pulled out his old flintlock pistol! Not sure what to do, I tossed the sword to Cap'n Foxy and jumped out of the way."

I tossed the sword over to Foxy, the animatronic catching it and giving a hearty "YAR!" and doing some impressive sword tricks of her own.

"Lucky, he was! It's a good thin' them pistols ain't too good at bein' accurate! After the ol' Captain fired, I took the chance to stab the ghostly sword through his ancient bones, and he let out a ghastly wail. Then, he vanished into thin air. With him gone, we were able to get the treasure and leave for home."

The children were excited, but I thought it could use a bit more tension to finish off.

"Problem was, as soon as we started to leave the cave, it started to collapse on us!"

Foxy looked at me and smiled, ready to help improvise the story with me.

"So what do we do? Run, o' course!" Foxy added.

"Yep. With bags of treasure in our hands, we had difficulty getting through the cave, barely dodging falling stones. I could feel the dust of fallen rocks on my heels as we barely stayed ahead of the falling ceiling of the cave. Just before we were crushed, we jumped into our ship and set sail, lucky to have made it out alive."

The kids cheered at the happy and exciting ending, and I smiled wide. I was having fun, and so was Foxy. Just as the children got done cheering at the story, I could hear the main stage announcing they were starting again soon. Most of the children actually stayed, wanting to hang around with us instead of seeing the main attraction. But I wanted to have to time to decide our other activities with the kids, so I convinced them to have fun with the rest of the Fazbear crew, and that they could hang out later.

The rest of the children eventually gave in, leaving to see the main show and waving goodbye to us, and we both waved back. With them gone, I put back the props we used and turned the lights back on. As I got to pondering our next activities, I felt that familiar chill down my spine. I didn't know why it happened, but it kept happening on and off.

But _why?_

Why?

Maybe I was finally losing it...

"Curtis..."

No, that couldn't be it.

"Curtis?"

But what else could it be? Really, I was afraid of the answer...

"Curtis!"

I turned around, seeing Foxy looking at me, frustrated.

"Yes, Foxy?"

She let out a sigh, moving closer to me.

"I jus' want to talk a bit."

I nodded, motioning for her to speak. When I did, she let out a deep breath, looking at nothing in particular.

"Really, I know it isn't my business, but... how do ye see your future with Emily?"

Big surprise.

 _Not_.

To be honest, I was a bit annoyed with the constant concern about my private life, but she was my friend, so what the hell, right?

"I don't really see me having a future with her, to be honest. I just have my date with her tonight, and that will likely be it."

Foxy seemed relieved, and opened her mouth to speak but said nothing, instead opting to be quiet.

"Was that all, Foxy? If so, I'd really like to talk about our activities with the kids for later."

She smiled a cute smile, nodding. I mean, I know that's kinda weird to say, but as I usually say, it's cute like... a dog.

Damn. Why did I hesitate to think that? It felt like I didn't mean it. Like I was lying to myself. But I didn't know why. It's not like I felt for her romantically. That would just be wrong, and it would be unfair to Foxy. She wasn't allowed to leave the place, and I had a life outside this place. I would move on, and she would be left here.

"So what do ye think we should do?"

"I was thinking that we could try having an activity where we have the kids come up with their own ships and captain names. I imagine they'd like that a lot."

Foxy nodded, grabbing a pen and paper to write the idea down while we figured out a way to make the activity more interesting.

"Do you think we should just let them draw it, or should I come up with a template for them to use?" I asked.

Foxy thought for a moment and went to speak when a few voices were heard outside the door.

"Imagine being such a lonely loser that you talk to a robot."

Oh _hell_ no.

Turning around, I saw it was three teenagers that looked about a year older than me, maybe more. They all laughed at what Fucktard #1 said, while I got up to let them know who the fuck they were talking to. As I got up to confront them, Foxy grabbed a hold of my pant leg.

"Jus' ignore 'em. They're teenagers."

I rolled my eyes.

"Foxy, _I'm_ a teenager. And I'm not gonna let them disrespect either of us.

"Oh, so brave of you to stick up for your robot girlfriend."

That did it. I was going to try a peaceful solution, then I was going to fuck 'em up.

"Hey, you guys. As an employee, I'm going to have to ask you to please be respectful, and to please not intervene with our work."

In response, one of the dickheads spit in my fucking face. And you know how I responded?

 _BAM!_

I punched him in his fugly face, making him fall backwards onto the floor. The other two looked like they wanted to fight, but I decided to let them know something.

"Listen, dickheads. If I did that to him in one punch, you don't want to know how bad I'll fuck you two up if you start some shit."

"Curtis! Stop!" Foxy cried out.

The two hesitated, so I continued.

"Take your friend with you to go file a report if you want, and then get the fuck out of this place."

When they did nothing, I just turned my back on them, huffing.

"Pussies."

I expected one of them to try and get me while I had my back turned, but surprisingly they didn't.

Instead, they shocked me a bit.

"Your name's Curtis? As in Curtis Bryant?"

What the...?

"Yeah. How'd you figure that out?"

"We've heard of you! Word spread about you on the street." One of them said while they dragged their friend's unconscious body away.

That was weird. And concerning. Did somebody know...?

"Curtis... I can't believe ye did tha'! What were ya thinkin'? And why were they afraid o' ye?"

I let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Listen, Foxy. I'm just as confused as you are. Someone must have spread a rumor." I lied.

Foxy narrowed her eyes at me, frowning.

"Quit yer lyin', mister. Tell me the truth."

"Fucking hell. Fine! I got into a fight and beat somebody really goddamn bad. Happy?" I said, not technically lying.

She pondered it for a moment, but said nothing, instead letting out a sigh. As she quietly continued our previous work, I considered what I had just done. It was stupid and irrational, but I didn't care. They had it coming, and were older than me for sure. If anything, I was the one who was in the clear.

"Y'know... I didn't expect that from ya. Since I've known ye, you've been nothin' but good to me, even when ye were angry at me. But recently... I'm startin' to think I got to know the wrong Curtis. The Curtis that isn't the real you."

Damn, she was good.

"Nope."

Wow. Way to go, dumbass.

"Sorry, what I mean is that you _do_ know the real me. Thing is, you don't know how I react in certain situations. I'm usually like this, but sometimes... I _lose it_."

She nodded as though she understood, so I left it at that. She sat down, putting her head in her hands.

"Life is so complex. I haven't been 'round that long, an' things are already confusin'. I was pre-programmed with knowledge on the world, life, and such, yet actually experiencin' all these things is overwhelmin'. And you especially. Ye perplex me, Curtis. Ye really do."

Yeah, I get that a lot.

"I understand. Truly. So if you ever need anything, I promise I'm here for you. You're my friend, Foxy. A very good friend too. If you'd like, I'll be more transparent about what I do for you."

Foxy smiled, hugging her knees close.

"Thank ye, Curtis. That means a lot."

"Don't mention it. Now, let's finish up our schedule."

* * *

Hours had passed, and we had completed our show and activities. The children enjoyed their stay quite a bit, and were very upset when they had to go home. Of course with closing time, I also had my date to go on. But I also had to go see what Jett wanted. So after my date, I was going straight to Jett's place.

I went to head out, and Foxy, called out to me.

"Have fun, Curtis. I'll see ya tomorrow. Will ye be staying the night with me tomorrow?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. I know you miss me when I'm gone, so I'll be here with you. Anyway, goodnight, Foxy. Can't wait to see you again tomorrow."

I didn't have to look to tell that Foxy was smiling at me, happy at the thought of me staying the night with her again. Even I smiled at the thought. Foxy made me happy, and I knew I made her happy. We made a great combo, and we always have fun. Though, I suspect I may be a bad influence on her. Oh well.

I couldn't worry about that at the moment. I had a date to catch. I stepped out the Cove, waving goodbye to Foxy. I passed the main stage, the three on the stage waving to me. I smiled up at them, shooting finger guns at them.

"Have a good night, you guys."

Freddy tipped his hat at me and smiled.

"And to you, my friend."

Bonnie clapped his hands, smiling at me with his girly-as-a-motherfucker smile.

"Can't wait to see you tomorrow."

Whatever, twink.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow, you all."

With that, I left, getting into my car. I was going to pick up Emily at the address I was given by her. I didn't really need to get ready, as I didn't feel like I needed to wear something special. It was just a movie, after all.

I cruised down the street, my radio playing softly, the device buzzing out some kind of pop tune. I wasn't interested in it, but kept it on to add some kind of noise. Silence scared me, especially nowadays. That voice terrified me, even if it showed no malicious intent. It was not a normal thing, and given my mental history, it was cause for concern.

With a sigh, I took a turn and stopped at the second house on my right, spotting a well-dressed Emily waiting for me. Adorning her body was a kinda short dress with black leggings, and I didn't know how she wasn't cold in the weather. She got in the car, getting comfortable. Well, as comfortable as you could in the piece-of-shit car I drove.

"Sorry about the shitty car."

She laughed, shaking her head.

"Don't apologize. It's fine." she said, stretching. "I pride myself on not being materialistic."

I chuckled, relieved that she didn't think my car was the trash heap it was. Maybe she did, but at least she wasn't like Jett.

 _"Trash the fucker and buy a new one, dumbass."_ he would say.

Fuck you, Jett.

"Well, thanks. You should hear what my friends say about my car."

She chuckled to herself as I started heading toward the movie theater. I rolled down my window to let in a breeze, the chilly air reminding me what time of year it was. It may have nipped a bit, but the air was refreshing. I turned to Emily, asking her about the air.

"Hey, you don't mind me having my window down, do you? I know it's a bit cold, so I thought I might as well ask."

She shook her head, smiling at me.

"I don't mind. I actually kind of like the cold. believe it or not."

I nodded, glad she was okay with it. Now, I didn't really like the cold, and definitely preferred warm weather, but it was important to get fresh air. I had been in a subjectively stuffy room for the whole day, so I wanted to breathe and think a little.

The city was actually quite silent as I drove,few other vehicles passing us as we made our way to the theater. The city usually wasn't too active anyway, so this was nothing new. I actually liked how peaceful Cawthon was for a city. It almost made me forgive how shitty it was.

I spotted the movie theater and pulled into its parking lot, taking a spot in the most empty area. I got out of my raggedy-ass car, feeling the breeze blow over my body. I was glad I always carried my hoodie, because the cold was more annoying now than refreshing. Then, I remembered what Emily was wearing and offered my hoodie to her.

"No thanks. Like I said, I actually like the cold weather." she said, making her way toward the entrance of the building.

Bright signs flashed everywhere, showing off the "amazing new films!" everyone was seeing. I didn't really watch movies, but then again, I didn't usually have time for them. Tonight I was making an exception, as I was doing this for someone else. I approached the ticket booth, seeing the guy at the booth starting to fall asleep.

"Hey, pal. Two tickets for... _Blink of an Eye._ "

The guy woke up, nodding and getting us our tickets. I paid for the two and led Emily into the building. It was kind of old, needed a good cleaning for the floors, and reeked of stale over-buttered popcorn, yet it was oddly welcoming. I headed further in, showing my tickets to the employee before heading into the designated theater. It was relatively empty, not many people inside.

I took a seat on the end of a completely empty row, Emily sitting next to me. We didn't get any popcorn or drinks, as I didn't want any, and Emily didn't stop to get any. However, I noticed her reach into her purse and pull out a bag of candy.

"Screw buying that expensive shit up front. Want some?"

I chuckled, glad she thought ahead, mostly because I would hate to see someone blow money on stupid shit.

"Nah, but thanks anyway. Not really a fan of candy."

"Suit yourself." she replied, popping a candy into her mouth.

As we waited for the movie to start, she turned to me.

"So about earlier at work, there was some guy being carried out unconscious. Do you know what that was about?"

Oh boy...

"Yeah, that was me. Dickheads tried starting something, so I ended it before it started."

She laughed, putting a hand over her mouth to not disturb the other patrons.

"You... should have seen Mr. Fazbear's face!" she said between laughs.

She tried to imitate what face Mr. Fazbear made before laughing at the thought. I couldn't help but chuckle with her. The man was strange, but he was a good guy as far as I knew, so I made sure to be good to him. He was always concerned for people, and also seemed to genuinely care about the customers' experiences.

While we laughed, the lights dimmed, signalling the start of the movie. I got quiet, wanting to allow everyone to have a decent experience. Hopefully this movie would be worth my time.

* * *

The movie came to a close, the protagonist of the story dying in an honestly unexpected twist. The ending was a bit open-ended, but it was pretty entertaining. Emily stood up, stuffing her long-empty candy bag in her purse as I followed her out. Once we reached the exit of the building, I asked her what she thought of the movie.

"It was great! I didn't see that coming. Glad nobody spoiled it for me."

"Me too. Honestly, I don't even like movies, but that one was-"

My phone interrupted me, ringing in my pocket. I excused myself and looked at my phone, seeing it was Jett. I took the call, opening my car door and getting in.

 _"Hey, man. Be sure to come over to my place. I need you to be here for me, man."_

"Sure thing. I'll be there soon."

I turned on my car, buckling up and leaving the parking lot.

 _"Thanks, man. It means a lot- wait... I recognize that janky sound. I thought I told you to scrap that damn car, dude."_

I just hung up the phone. If my car still worked, I was going to use it.

"Who was that?" Emily asked. "Actually, never mind. Not my business."

"Nah, it's fine. It was just my friend. He needs me really quick, so if it's okay with you I'll be dropping you off at your place before helping him out."

She nodded, smiling at me.

"Yeah, that's fine. I had fun tonight. I hope we can do this again sometime."

"Me too. I'm glad I agreed to this."

And I meant that. I actually had fun, and I liked her more than I thought I would. I wasn't keen on letting new people into my life, but she was alright. Eventually, I arrived at her home and she got out of my car, waving goodbye as I left. I smiled to myself as I headed to Jett's place, wondering what he needed help with. To be honest, his parents bothered me. I mean, it's hard not to be bothered by the resident Neo-Nazis, so it was to be expected.

Oddly enough, they liked _me_ plenty, even though they knew I was half Jewish.

I spotted the McAllister residence, pulling into the driveway and heading to their door, knocking. After waiting a very short while, the door was answered by a large blonde bearded man in a white tank-top covered in tattoos. This man was Pete McAllister, Jett's father. Past him I could see Jett's mother, Jane McAllister, a blonde woman with the sides of her head shaved and a nose piercing.

"Hey, Curtis! Good to see ya, you dirty shekel-grabber." Pete said jokingly, lightly punching my shoulder.

"Only half shekel-grabber, trailer trash." I retorted, making him laugh.

" _Former_ trailer trash, Curt."

He motioned for me to enter his home, letting me in. I took a seat on their couch, waiting for Jett. I waved hello to Jane, the woman smiling toward me before going back to looking at her phone.

"So, what brings you here, Curtis?" Pete asked from the kitchen.

I shrugged, though he couldn't see the action.

"I don't know yet. Jett called me over, so I came. Not sure what he wants."

As if on queue, Jett came down the hallway, taking a seat in a chair nearby.

"Hey, dude. Glad you came. I called you here so you could back me up on something, actually. Mom, Dad, if you could listen for just a moment?"

His father popped his head out of the kitchen, confused.

"What did you do this time? Get a girl pregnant? Get in trouble?"

"No, it isn't-"

"Wait, are you coming out as gay?"

"Wha- No! Let me speak!"

Pete chuckled, coming into the living room and taking a seat.

"I know. Just messing with you. Go ahead, sport."

Jett sighed, glancing at me before opening his mouth to speak.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know... I no longer want to support The Cause."

His parents froze, shocked. I knew that "The Cause" was "securing a better future for the white race" or some shit like that, so this revelation must have been crushing.

"What do you mean? Don't you care about our people?" Jane asked.

Jett let out a heavy sigh, nodding.

"Yeah, I care. But I don't want to hate _other_ people. I've tried to be the way you wanted, but it's only caused me pain. I've had friends die because of it. I have friends who are _currently_ dying because of it. Because I started something I really shouldn't have."

His parents both took a collective deep breath, Pete pinching the bridge of his nose.

"But doesn't that just prove that our cause is just?"

"No! Not when I'm the source of the trouble. Don't you see? We aren't the good guys here. They aren't either, but we definitely aren't."

Jane scoffed, turning to me.

"Curtis, can you believe this?"

I shrugged, making her roll her eyes.

Yeah, I was just being the greatest, wasn't I?

"Look. I'm not going to suddenly be against The Cause. But I just can't actively support it anymore. Do you understand what I mean?"

The two parents looked at each other before coming to some kind of conclusion without speaking a word.

"Jett, my precious boy, I can't say I'm exactly happy with this revelation. But... I understand. And if it's bringing you and your friends in harm's way, I can't support putting you in that direction." Jane said, Pete nodding in agreement.

"Son, you already make me proud. If this isn't something you want to be a part of, I completely support that decision." Pete added.

For a pair of racists, they were quite accepting. Well, he _was_ their son, but still.

The two turned to me, waiting to see if I had any input to add.

"Uh... Yeah. I'll just continue to keep Jett in line."

They chuckled, standing up and hugging their son one at a time. I quite often saw that Jett and his parents were very close, and sometimes I kind of felt like part of the family, so this was an important moment for all of us. Hopefully, this would all be for the better. Maybe... Maybe we could finally stop all of this violence. I wouldn't be risking my neck anymore, and I wouldn't add to my ticket straight to Hell.

Once the moment was over, I got up and stretched, yawning as I did so.

"Looks like I wasn't needed. Still, that was quite unexpected from you."

Jett nodded, leading me to the front door as I went to leave.

"Yeah. I just wanted you to be here just in case things _weren't_ fine. You know how my folks can be."

"Yep. Remember when they first met me?"

Jett laughed.

"Boy, do I. My ears still ring from that yelling."

I chuckled, opening my car door.

"See you, man. We should go do something sometime."

He nodded, waving as I started my car and left. I rolled up my window, as I had enough of the cool air. I was finally alone with my thoughts.

What had that guy meant when he said word had spread about me? Was I in danger? Were my friends in danger?

Was Dexter okay? Was he still even alive?

These questions couldn't be answered yet, but-

My phone buzzed, indicating I got a text. I took a single moment to check the text, seeing that it was...

Dexter?

Strange how that works. I quickly read the message, seeing what he sent me after not wanting to see me.

 _'Hey. They tossed my ass out of the hospital. Don't need to be there anymore. Family came and got me. Sorry I didn't let you visit. I was just a tiny bit mad about you getting me shot :)'_

I laughed at the text. What a smart-ass.

Quickly making sure I wasn't about to hit something on the road, I quickly typed out a response.

 _'Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Glad ur ok.'_

I sent the message, looking up from my phone and-

OH SHIT!

I swerved my car, narrowly avoiding someone in the road. I skid to a halt, looking out my window to see who was there. But as I looked, I felt nauseous. I stepped out of my car, puking on the road before wiping my mouth and looking up to see...

An empty road.

Were my meds not working? They had to be. There was no reason for them not to...

No. Someone was there. Or at least _something_.

But what?

Realizing I was sideways in the middle of the road, I got back into my car and kept on my way back home. Hopefully, I would get to the bottom of these strange occurrences. For now, I would just get my damn rest.

I pulled into the parking area for my apartment, getting out of my car and locking it before going inside my apartment. I immediately threw down my hat and ID that were laying in my car, going to my bathroom to take a shower. The warm water was comforting, and the feeling of being clean was nice.

I stepped out of my shower and dried off, looking in the mirror to see...

Just me.

Good.

Maybe things were going to be fine. Yeah, they had to be. Great job, my friend is okay, possible girlfriend, and a no-longer-racist friend. Things would be just fine.

I got dressed and got into bed, getting comfortable. I was going to be paid soon, so I would be able to possibly get some better furniture, or save for a better place to live.

I smiled as I considered the possibilities. Things were looking up.

What could go wrong?

* * *

 _Howdy, you guys. It's been a while. Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't be late again, but life is complicated. Sorry 'bout that. And I know this chapter isn't long, and probably not worth the wait, but I will be trying to catch up on my schedule. Hopefully it won't reflect too much in my writing. So besides the fact that it wasn't really exciting at all, what do you think? Does it totally blow? Let me know. See y'all!_


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